Visiting US Undersecretary of State John Bolton Monday held talks with two Chinese vice-foreign ministers on topics including the nuclear stand-off on the Korean Peninsula and other arms-related issues.

The top United States arms-control official held talks with Zhang Yesui and Wang Yi in the second round of Sino-US security talks.

He is scheduled to leave China today for the Republic of Korea and Japan.

The timetable has not been settled for a new round of multilateral talks on the Korean nuclear issue, Bolton told a Beijing press conference held after yesterday's talks.

"I don't think there is anything on the date, one or the other, that I could really indicate," he said.

He told the briefing that Washington has no intention of invading the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and that people should focus on Pyongyang's alleged nuclear weapons program.

The DPRK is not Iraq, Bolton said. He added: "The context is very different. The circumstances are very different, and the history has been very different."

He said that President (George W.) Bush has made clear for quite some time that what the United States seek in the case of DPRK is the peaceful dismantlement of this country's nuclear weapons program.

(China Daily July 29, 2003)