Russia's negotiator at talks on North Korea's nuclear crisis in Beijing said today he did not feel "great optimism" but the six-country negotiations had not yet failed.
Diplomats from the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China are meeting today for roundtable talks in the Chinese capital.
"I would not say I am feeling great optimism Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov said after the opening session of the talks.
"The situation is quite fragile. First of all, that has to do with contacts between the American and North Korean delegations. At the moment, there is no grounds for saying that the talks have broken down."
The talks are seen as the first in a series of tough rounds of negotiation, with even agreement to meet again likely to be greeted as a sign of success. The six negotiators appeared relaxed, smiling and sharing a group handshake for the cameras.
The distance dividing the two protagonists was underscored by North Korea's official KCNA news agency, which demanded Washington refrain from "unreasonable demands" and said the fate of the talks depended on US readiness to give and take.
The United States is looking initially for a commitment that isolated Pyongyang will scrap its nuclear program. North Korea wants security guarantees before dismantling. The US has branded North Korea part of an "axis of evil" along with pre-war Iraq and Iran.
China, keen to keep the dispute from escalating into a destabilizing conflict or a refugee crisis on its northeast flank, says North Korea's security concerns should be addressed and called for level heads and restraint.
The United States said in October North Korea had admitted to a clandestine program to enrich uranium to build nuclear weapons, violating agreements with the United States as well as its international commitments.
The isolated communist state has since thrown out UN nuclear inspectors, become the first state to pull out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and restarted its Yongbyon plant, sparking fears it has reprocessed spent fuel rods there into plutonium for weapons.
The only agreement among all parties, except North Korea, is that the Korean peninsula should be free of nuclear weapons.