North Korea:Delegates gathered in Beijing yesterday for the latest round of six-nation talks to resolve the nuclear stand-off on the Korean peninsula.
The latest effort comes with the US and Japan warning North Korea of further isolation unless the talks produce progress.
The stakes have been raised significantly by North Korea's missile test in July and a nuclear test in October, which angered the global community including China - the country's only ally, and sparked UN sanctions.
Analysts were doubtful the talks between the two Koreas, the US, Japan, Russia and China, which stalled over a year ago, would come up with a comprehensive solution.
Many observers believe the talks could stall - as they did for a year from late 2005 - or even collapse, derailed by distrust between Washington and Pyongyang.
The negotiations are due to formally resume today and as delegates arrived in Beijing, the negotiators outlined their positions ahead of the talks.
"I hope the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] understands that we really are reaching a fork in the road," said US chief negotiator Christopher Hill.
"We can either go forward on the diplomatic track or we have to go to a much different track, and that is a track that involves sanctions and that I think ultimately will really be very harmful to the DPRK economy," he said.
Mr Hill said he was gearing up for "a long and difficult week".
As Pyongyang's most influential ally, China's role is being closely monitored and Mr Hill said the Chinese had been working closely with Washington in the run-up to the talks to help achieve progress.
"The Chinese delegation and we have felt the urgency, having watched the DPRK conduct a missile test this summer and then a nuclear explosion this fall," he said.
Pyongyang's envoy, Kim Kye-gwan, urged an end to what he called Washington's hostility and said the US would have to end financial restrictions against it before there could be progress.
That would include the implementation of an agreement after the 2005 talks in which North Korea agreed in principle to scrap its nuclear weapons in return for aid and security guarantees.
However, Pyongyang subsequently boycotted the six-party talks following a US crackdown on suspected counterfeiting and money laundering by Pyongyang, which led to a freeze of North Korean assets at Banco Delta Asia in Macao.
What hope there is for the talks is in an apparent willingness from Washington to be more accommodating on the financial aspect.
Mr Hill said Washington was prepared to deal on the issue of financial measures, and a separate delegation from the US treasury department would be meeting the North Koreans in Beijing this week.
South Korea's chief envoy Chun Yung-woo also warned against hopes of dramatic progress. "I anticipate it won't be easy to seek substantive measures to resolve the situation partly because the talks will be exploratory in nature," he said. The crisis has simmered since October 2002, when US officials said North Korea was pursuing a secret nuclear weapons programme.
Pyongyang responded by expelling international weapons inspectors, withdrawing from the Non-Proliferation Treaty and restarting the reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear facility.