Rice in Singapore for N.Korea talks

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Singapore on Tuesday for six-party talks over North Korea's weapons program that China said would push forward the process of denuclearization.

Rice is to join foreign ministers from China, Russia, Japan, and the two Koreas at Wednesday's meeting -- the first such encounter since "six party" talks began in 2003 and at a time when Washington is looking at better ties with the North.

"It's very significant because this is probably the first time the foreign ministers from the six parties are having such a meeting," China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told reporters after talks with his Japanese counterpart.

"I think it will be beneficial to pushing forward the progress of the six-party talks."

U.S. negotiator in the six-party talks, Chris Hill, said he expected the meeting to focus on finishing a mechanism to verify North Korea's nuclear weapons program, which the six parties discussed earlier this month in Beijing.

A four-page draft of the so-called verification protocol had been circulated to all the key players and Hill said he hoped for a reply soon.

"There is no formal agenda (at Wednesday's meeting) but it is expected that there will be a tour de table -- a discussion about completing the verification protocol and phase two and perhaps an opening discussion of what phase three might look like," Hill told reporters traveling with Rice.

"It will give some indications of the amount of effort that the North Koreans have put into completing this verification protocol," he said of the meeting.

China, the host of the six-party talks, also said the meeting would focus on how to take the process forward into the final phase -- the full dismantling of North Korea's nuclear arms program and surrendering of fissile material in exchange for aid and diplomatic rewards.

"China's concerns are that we hope that the six parties will ... honor each other's commitments ... so that we can push the talks into the next phase," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters.

POLICY U-TURN

The meeting, on the sidelines of annual talks among Asia-Pacific nations, comes at a time when the U.S. Bush administration is making a U-turn of its previous policy of isolating foes.

President George W. Bush famously branded North Korea as part of an "axis of evil" together with Iraq and Iran after the September 11, 2001 attacks, but the North is slowly moving away from that rogue status and Washington has begun to ease some sanctions.

Rice sought to play down the significance of the meeting with Pyongyang's minister, telling reporters she did not think they were "historic, or monumental or even consequential".

Hill also said he thought it was too early to say whether Rice's first meeting with the North Koreans could mark a turning point in relations with its former foe.

"I see this as part of the process. Whether it is a turning point in this, or anything is a turning point is far too early to tell," Hill said.

In late June, the North presented a long-delayed account of its nuclear weapons program that contained information on its plutonium production.

The declaration did little to address U.S. suspicions of a secret uranium enrichment program, but led to a thaw in ties between the two countries, with President George W. Bush beginning a 45-day process to remove Pyongyang from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Once it is removed from the U.S. terrorism list, the communist state will see an end to sanctions that have mostly cut it off from international banking.