S Korean, U.S. nuclear envoys to meet Thursday

SEOUL, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Wi Sung-lak, South Korea's top envoy to the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, will meet with his American counterpart Stephen Bosworth Thursday to discuss their bilateral cooperation on reopening the stalled talks, local media reported Wednesday.

Wi is due in Seoul later in the day after visiting Beijing to meet with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei and discuss the resumption of the talks.

Wi reportedly told South Korean reporters in Beijing that the talks there were "useful", but said there was no conspicuous change in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s stance on returning to the talks, while details of the meeting in Beijing have not been disclosed, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.

Meetings between the top negotiators came at a time when hopes for resuming the stalled talks have picked up following recent exchanges of high-level visits between Pyongyang and Beijing, which Seoul has said is a positive sign but not a guarantee that the resumption is imminent.

The six-party talks involving South Korea, the DPRK, China, the United States, Japan and Russia, was launched in 2003 but hit a snag in April 2009 when Pyongyang pulled out of the talks in protest of the UN condemnation of its missile tests.