A new round of Six Party nuclear talks opens in Beijing today (Monday). Top US nuclear negotiator, Christopher Hill, says the issue of verifying nuclear materials will be the main hurdle.

US, South Korean and Japanese nuclear negotiators met on Sunday in Beijing for discussions ahead of Monday's talks.

U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill speaks to the press at a hotel in Beijing Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. [Elizabeth Dalziel/AP Photo]

The six nations involved in the talks on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's nuclear disarmament -- China, Russia, Japan, the United States, South Korea and the DPRK -- meet on Monday morning in Beijing for the first time in more than four months.

On the eve of the new round of talks, the top US nuclear negotiator, Christopher Hill stressed the importance of the negotiations.

Christopher Hill, US Assistant Secretary of States, said, "We've got a lot to do at this round. We're looking at the issue of getting fuel oil deliveries, the South Koreans have done a lot of work on that, we've tried to assist them on that. We're looking at how to get the remaining disablement activities done and most importantly we're looking at trying to get this verification stuff done."

The DPRK agreed last year to disable its nuclear reactor in exchange for aid.

But Pyongyang recently denied having agreed to allow inspectors to take samples from its nuclear complex to verify its past activities.

Hill said there was no reason for Pyongyang to reject sampling since it was one of a number of verification methods. He also said sampling was not unusual, not new and not anything Pyongyang should be objecting to.

The new-round of negotiations are expected to focus on how to verify the DPRK's accounting of its program. But negotiators have said they expect the process to be difficult.

Japan's top nuclear envoy noted that it would be tough to work out a detailed plan for verifying Pyongyang's past nuclear activities. That's because a big gap still remains between the US and the DPRK.

(CCTV December 8, 2008)