President Hu Jintao's special envoy held talks with Pyongyang's top nuclear strategist to bring the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) back to disarmament negotiations.

The reportedly "candid and in-depth" meeting between special envoy Dai Bingguo and the DPRK's First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju on Wednesday is the latest international effort to persuade the DPRK to return to denuclearization.

Earlier this month, the United States pressured all nations to impose tougher UN sanctions against the DPRK, which said it had succeeded in enriching uranium, a crucial step before manufacturing nuclear weapons. Beijing has sought to bring the DPRK back to the Six-Party Talks, which Pyongyang withdrew from in April.