North Korea's nuclear envoy Ri Yong Ho, second from left, arrives for talks with South Korea at private Chang An Club in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011. Nuclear envoys from the rival Koreas started talks Wednesday in Beijing on setting terms for restarting stalled six-party nuclear disarmament negotiations. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
North Korea's nuclear envoy Ri Yong Ho, second from left, arrives for talks with South Korea at private Chang An Club in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011. Nuclear envoys from the rival Koreas started talks Wednesday in Beijing on setting terms for restarting stalled six-party nuclear disarmament negotiations. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
South Korea's nuclear envoy Wi Sung-lac, left, departs a hotel for talks with North Korea in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011. Nuclear envoys from the rival Koreas started talks Wednesday in Beijing on setting terms for restarting stalled six-party nuclear disarmament negotiations. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
South Korea's nuclear envoy Wi Sung-lac, left, departs from a hotel in a car for talks with North Korean counterpart in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011. Nuclear envoys from the rival Koreas started talks Wednesday in Beijing on setting terms for restarting stalled six-party nuclear disarmament negotiations. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
North Korea's nuclear envoy Ri Yong Ho arrives for talks with South Korean counterpart at the private Chang An Club in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011. Nuclear envoys from the rival Koreas started talks Wednesday in Beijing on setting terms for restarting stalled six-party nuclear disarmament negotiations. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
North Korea's nuclear envoy Ri Yong Ho, center, arrives for talks with South Korean counterpart at the private Chang An Club in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011. Nuclear envoys from the rival Koreas started talks Wednesday in Beijing on setting terms for restarting stalled six-party nuclear disarmament negotiations. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
BEIJING (AP) ? Representatives of North and South Korea met Wednesday for crucial talks, renewing optimism that Pyongyang could be persuaded to resume discussions on ending its nuclear program after it walked out two years ago.
Seoul's main nuclear negotiator Wi Sung-lac and his counterpart Ri Yong Ho, met at the private Chang An Club in central Beijing, a popular hangout for high-ranking officials and diplomats in China. No details of the talks were immediately provided by either side.
The meeting is the latest in a series of small steps taken in recent months to revive the on-again, off-again six-nation disarmament talks, which include China, the United States, Japan and Russia, besides the two Koreas.
Wednesday's talks are likely to focus on what kind of preliminary measures the North must take before the six-party talks can resume, South Korean officials said ahead of the meeting.
A South Korean Foreign Ministry official said Wi and Ri, who had last met two months ago in Bali, Indonesia, would resume their talks later Wednesday after a few hours' break. Wi will also meet with Chinese nuclear envoy, Wu Dawei, on Thursday, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with government rules.
North Korea walked out of the sputtering nuclear negotiations after the United Nations condemned it for launching a long-range rocket in April 2009. The North claimed it had only launched a satellite, but didn't convince many. Pyongyang then demonstrated its anger by exploding a nuclear device in May.
The nuclear test bolstered critics in South Korea who said their government shouldn't give North Korea a long leash when its strategy seems to be to raise tensions to gain more aid and other concessions to shore up a tricky political succession at home.
But in recent months, North Korea ? facing food shortages and a listless economy ? has repeatedly expressed its willingness to rejoin the talks.
With elections coming up in South Korea, where relations with the North are an emotional issue, President Lee Myung-bak has also indicated a softening of his less compromising policy.
According to his office, Lee said in a speech in New York that denuclearization was important to "establish confidence between South and North Korea."
South Korea and U.S. officials have demanded the North halt its uranium-enrichment program, freeze nuclear and missile tests and allow international nuclear inspectors back into the country. North Korea wants the talks to resume immediately without any preconditions.
One sticking point has been South Korea's desire for North Korea to demonstrate it is sincere about disarmament and take responsibility for two deadly attacks last year.
Last year, North Korea shelled a South Korean front-line island, killing four people, and allegedly torpedoed a South Korean warship, killing 46.
During a visit to Russia last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il reportedly suggested the North could be open to halting nuclear production and testing if the six-party talks resume.
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Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
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