1.   Talks this year with the United States and China were supposed to lead to a Korean peace agreement.

2.   The deal was seen as indicative of a general easing of tensions that have clouded the Korean peace talks in recent months.

3.   The top priority is to finally work out a Korean peace treaty, formally ending the war.

4.   We have on the table, unanswered by Pyongyang, a proposal for four-party talks with the two Koreas and China on a Korean peace treaty.

5.   Peace negotiators from the two Koreas, China and the United States are still searching for a compromise to move along talks on a permanent Korean peace treaty.

6.   Also Thursday in New York, the Unites States, China and the two Koreas began preliminary talks to discuss a Korean peace conference.

7.   Among those retained were special envoys for arms control, Sudan, disarmament, Tibet, Asian-Pacific cooperation, nuclear nonproliferation, climate and Korean peace talks.

8.   Another State Department official, in Washington, said the United States often has held bilateral meetings with Korean peace talks participants before talks or preliminary talks.

9.   At the U.S.-South Korea summit, the two leaders proposed four-way Korean peace talks involving the United States, China and the two Koreas.

10.   At the meeting, U.S. and South Korean official will explain their proposal for Korean peace talks, the spokesman told KCNA.