China has urged ally North Korea to go back to negotiations for peace in the Korean Peninsula and to revive initiatives for a nuclear disarmament program.

In a Beijing forum early this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has urged regional powers to revive the recoiling six-party talks on the nuclear disarmament of North Korea.

Related reports from Asahi Shimbum said that envoys from North and South Korea will meet this week in Beijing to discuss the North's atomic arms program, which has included nuclear test blasts in 2006 and 2009 that drew U.N. sanctions.

"We are pleased to see that various parties have been undertaking positive contracts around restarting the six-party talks, and all sides should seize opportunities to maintain the momentum of dialogue," a Reuters report said.

"We must take our own countries' security interests seriously and also take into account the legitimate security concerns of other countries," Yang continued.

Beijing will hold a meeting this week together with envoys from North and South Korea to discuss the atomic arms program of North Korea including the nuclear test blasts in 2006 and 2009, which prompted new sanctions from the United Nations.

Yang argued China's participation in such negotiations marked the country's significant role in maintaining peace in Asia-Pacific region.

"China does not have its own selfish interests in the issues on the Korean peninsula, and has received widespread acclaim and high marks from the international community for its constructive role in protecting peace and stability," Reuters quoted Yang as saying.

Six years earlier, China facilitated the six-party agreement affording the impoverished North Korea economic and energy assistance and better diplomatic footing in exchange for abolishing its nuclear weapons.

The negotiations, especially on the nuclear program of North Korea, had failed to prosper.

Since 2003, the six-party talks, which included Russia, Japan, United States, China and North and South Korea, have been characterized by antagonism and tension.

A year ago, Pyongyang severed its relations with neighboring countries after 50 South Koreans died in two separate attacks on the Korean peninsula.

Yang also told scholars and diplomats in the forum that the efforts to get back to negotiations will not result in an "overnight" progress, but convinced everyone that the six-party talks offer the only way to come up with lasting solutions to the rift between North and South Korea.