Feb 8 (Reuters) - Six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear arms programme opened in Beijing on Thursday. Following are the key positions of the six countries involved in the negotiations: - - - - NORTH KOREA North Korea says it wants a nuclear weapons-free Korean peninsula and in September 2005 agreed in principle to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for aid and security guarantees. But it tested a nuclear device last October, and says it is compelled to build nuclear weapons to counter what it sees as Washington's hostility towards it. North Korea has said its top priority during these talks will be to see the end of a U.S. crackdown on firms suspected of aiding the North's illicit financial activities, including the release of its funds at a Macau bank. - - - - UNITED STATES The United States wants to see "measurable progress" towards North Korea's implementation of the 2005 agreement. Despite the North's Oct. 9 nuclear test, Washington does not recognise Pyongyang as a nuclear power. The United States has said it is willing to discuss its financial restrictions on North Korea, but says lifting the measures depends on North Korean actions. U.N. sanctions imposed following the nuclear test that ban trade in weapons and luxury goods with North Korea should remain in effect until North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons, Washington says. - - - - JAPAN Japan takes the same basic stance as the United States, demanding that North Korea take concrete action towards abandoning its nuclear programmes. But Tokyo also wants progress toward resolving a feud over the abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s. It says it will not offer Pyongyang aid until that dispute, a highly emotive topic for many Japanese, is settled. This position could put Tokyo in a bind if an agreement is reached to provide North Korea with aid. - - - - SOUTH KOREA South Korea's ultimate aim is for a nuclear-free peninsula and unification of the peninsula. But of overriding concern, apart from outright war, is the fear that North Korea will collapse, sending millions of refugees into the South, which would be landed with a bill running into hundreds of billions of dollars for absorbing its broken neighbour. South Korea has pressed the United States and Japan to be more accommodating, and only reluctantly cut off aid to the North last summer in response to missile tests Pyongyang conducted. Seoul has said if the current six-party talks show enough progress it would likely resume food and fertiliser aid. That, and attempts to forge deeper economic ties especially close to the heavily armed border that divides the peninsula, are seen by the government as a way to slowly integrate the two countries. - - - - CHINA China wants to see North Korea give up its nuclear weapons programmes and, as an old ally of Pyongyang, it is seen as having the most leverage over the communist country. As host to the talks, China has taken on a role as broker between Pyongyang and Washington, arranging the meetings and contacts between the two. But as a neighbour of the North, China values stability over all else, and is wary of any action against Pyongyang that could cause the regime to collapse into chaos on its borders. ---- RUSSIA Like the other parties, Russia wants to see the Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons, but has also acknowledged North Korea's right to develop atomic energy. Russia's main asset in the negotiations is its close links with its former ally, Pyongyang. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visited Russia in 2001 and 2002 and senior Russian officials regularly visit Pyongyang. ----
