North Korean ambassadors are believed to have started around four days of consultations on Tuesday, Japan's Kyodo News reported, quoting unspecified diplomatic sources in Beijing.

The only other time the communist state is known to have held such a meeting was in 2001, the news agency said.

The talks come days after the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution sponsored by Japan and the United States that imposed sanctions targeting Pyongyang's missile program.

China, the impoverished state's main ally, had initially opposed strong measures against Pyongyang but supported the resolution after the toughest part was watered down.

The vote came after Wu Dawei, China's chief delegate to six-way talks on ending the North's nuclear program, went to Pyongyang and made no apparent progress in persuading the regime to return to the dialogue.

The chief delegates of Japan and South Korea, which has been reconciling with its communist neighbor, said Thursday they would push North Korea to return to talks during a regional forum in Kuala Lumpur next week.

North Korea has shunned the six-way talks since November to protest US financial sanctions on a Macau bank accused of money-laundering on its behalf.

It fired seven missiles on July 5, saying it was boosting its defenses against a potential US attack.

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