Beijing: Senior envoys from the United States, North Korea and China on April 23 kicked-off closed-door negotiations on ways to peacefully resolve Pyongyang's nuclear issue, diplomatic sources said.

Washington is represented by US Assistant Secretary for East Asia, James Kelly, North Korea by a Deputy Director General for US affairs, Li Gun and the Chinese side by the Director General, Asian department, Fu Ying.

The start of the three-day negotiations mark the first face-to-face talks by Washington and Pyongyang since talks broke up in October 2002 over North Korea's alleged nuclear weapons programme.

While no one is willing to say what would be the outcome of the secret parleys, some analysts say the fact that the two warring sides have agreed to sit down to talks represents a breakthrough in itself.

On April 22 Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao had said that the meeting would be out of bounds for the media.

Liu said China had arranged the meeting between the US and North Korea so that the two sides could better understand each other's stand on the issue and take steps to peacefully resolve the issue.

Prior to the talks, Chinese leaders held several meetings with both North Korean and US officials. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi is reported to have met Kelly prior to the tripartite talks.

PTI