China hopes for positive results of the U.S.-North Korea talks on persuading Pyongyang to return to the six-party negotiations on the Korean peninsula denuclearization, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said on Tuesday.

Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special envoy to North Korea, who is accompanied on his trip by four other U.S. officials, including Sung Kim, U.S. negotiator to the six-party talks, will arrive in North Korea on Tuesday.

"We support bilateral negotiations between the United States and North Korea and hope that they will contribute to strengthening mutual understanding and the elimination of tension," the Chinese diplomat said.

The six-party negotiations over North Korea's nuclear program, which involve Russia, the United States, China, Japan and the two Koreas, came to a halt in April when North Korea walked out of negotiations in protest against the United States' condemnation of its missile tests.

The North has recently hinted that it was willing to return to six-party talks, but insisted it first negotiate directly with the United States to repair "hostile relations."

Washington has been cautious about the expectations of Bosworth's trip, emphasizing that his visit is solely aimed at bringing the reclusive communist regime to talks in multilateral format rather than engaging in bilateral discussions of North Korea denuclearization issues.

BEIJING, December8 (RIA Novosti)