US and North Korean officials are meeting in Beijing for talks on Pyongyang's nuclear programme.

美国、朝鲜官员将会聚北京，讨论平壤核问题。

The US says it wants to know the direction in which Kim Jong-un plans to lead North Korea
The talks are the first since the death in December of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

The US says it wants to find out if the new leader, his son Kim Jong-un, is willing to discuss giving up North Korea's nuclear weapons.

The long-term aim is to restart six-nation talks on disarmament（裁军） which broke down in 2009.

The talks will be attended by Glyn Davies, the US co-ordinator on North Korea, and Kim Kye-gwan, Pyongyang's veteran nuclear negotiator.

Mr Davies said he hoped to find out more about the direction in which Kim Jong-un planned to take the country.

"My hope is that we can find a way to move forward with the North, because it's in everyone's interest to try to get on the next phase, which will be six-party talks," he said on Wednesday as he arrived in Beijing.

North Korea agreed in 2005 to give up its nuclear ambitions in return for aid and political concessions¹（让步，优惠） , as part of a six-nation dialogue process involving the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan.

But progress on the deal was stop-start, and the agreement broke down in 2009. North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006 and a second in 2009, shortly after walking away from the six-nation deal.

Since then tensions on the peninsula have remained high, particularly between the two Koreas.

Contact between the US and North Korea aimed at restarting the stalled six-nation talks began in July 2011. This meeting in Beijing is the third round of talks aimed at exploring how to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table.