China has urged North Korea to resume the six-party nuclear talks while U.S. President George W. Bush is in office.

Senior Chinese Communist Party official Wang Jiarui made the request last month in a face-to-face meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang last month. Wang is the director of his party's international department.

The Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun quoted a diplomatic source as saying Kim complained to Wang about U.S. suspicion over the North’s nuclear exports to Syria.

Wang is known to have responded that the Democratic Party will likely win the U.S. presidential election this fall, and urged Pyongyang's return to the talks soon. He warned that progress will be difficult in the dialog if the Democrats take power in Washington.

The Chinese official also invited Kim to China, something which North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju rejected.