Envoys met in China today to hammer out a detailed schedule for dismantling North Korea’s nuclear programmes amid efforts to resolve a sticking point over North Korean funds frozen in a Macau bank.

China’s president Hu Jintao appears to have sent a special envoy to North Korea, a former South Korean politician said today, amid speculation that the North might conduct another nuclear test.

North Korea informed China it may drop its plan to test its first atomic bomb if the US holds bilateral talks with the communist country, a former South Korean lawmaker said today.