China says will be patient in pushing for North Korea talks

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will be patient in pushing for multilateral talks on North Korea, state media on Sunday quoted the Chinese foreign minister as saying, repeating a call for emergency consultations to ease tensions on the peninsula.

Washington, Seoul and Tokyo have been lukewarm toward Beijing's proposal for emergency talks on North Korea, worried that they could be seen as rewarding Pyongyang for its recent deadly attack on a South Korean island.

China wants all six countries involved in stalled talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions -- China, the United States, Japan, Russia and both Koreas -- to get together and discuss the North's shelling of the South Korean island.

"While the talks have yet to be resumed, we think it is the proper time for emergency consultations between the heads of the delegations of the six parties," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told the official Xinhua news agency.

"We will continue to make patient efforts to persuade the parties to engage in consultations," Yang said.

Tensions on the peninsula will ease "only if all the parties show their sincerity and make joint efforts," he added.

"Stability on the Korean peninsula is good for all. Chaos there is detrimental for all," Yang said.

China, the host of stalled six-party talks with North Korea, has been trying to take a neutral line in the dispute over the island attack.

It was not invited to a meeting in Washington earlier this week among Japan, South Korea and the United States which put the onus on Beijing to take action.

Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg will lead a U.S. delegation to China next week to try to persuade Beijing to put more pressure on Pyongyang despite Chinese fears that this may destabilize the isolated country.

Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo met ailing leader Kim Jong-il for talks in Pyongyang this week, reaching "consensus on bilateral relations and the situation on the Korean peninsula after candid and in-depth talks," state media reported, without providing details.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard, Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)