China welcomes the Berlin meeting between top U.S. and Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) negotiators to the Korean Peninsular nuclear talks, said a Foreign Ministry spokesman on Thursday.

"We hope the conversations create conditions for the early resumption and real progress of the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsular nuclear issue," spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

Liu said China has always supported direct contacts between the United States and the DPRK, and hoped to see positive results.

China would continue to exert efforts and maintain close contacts with other parties to push forward the talks, said Liu.

He added no information on whether the United States and the DPRK will hold financial talks in Beijing.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and top DPRK negotiator Kim Kye-Gwan started meetings in Berlin on Tuesday.

The six-party talks involve China, the DPRK, the United States, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Russia.

During the fifth round of the talks in September 2005, the DPRK signed a statement agreeing to give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for economic aid and security guarantees from the United States and other countries. However, the DPRK refused to return to the talks as a result of U.S. financial sanctions.

The DPRK returned to the talks held in Beijing in December, which failed to make progress.

Source: Xinhua