Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon and his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing have vowed to exert their best efforts to open a third round of six-party nuclear talks before the end of June.

In a meeting Monday in Beijing, the two ministers also agreed to make concerted efforts to kick off working group discussions for new six-way negotiations as soon as possible.

In briefing the outcome of his recent visit to North Korea, Li told Ban that North Korea has a positive attitude toward resolving the nuclear standoff and is willing to continue six-party talks. Ban replied that reconfirming the North's such stance on the nuclear talks was a significant result.

On the formation of a working group, Li said the North agreed to the idea on condition that compensation for the North's proposed nuclear "freeze" be included in the agenda of the working-level discussions.

Meanwhile, Ban asked China to handle the issue of North Korean escapees being detained in China from a humanitarian perspective by respecting their free will.