BEIJING, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday said it hoped the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea could solve pending issues so as to march towards a normalization of bilateral ties.

    Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang made the remarks at a regular press conference.

    He confirmed Kim Kye-Gwan, top DPRK negotiator to the six-party talks, arrived in Beijing earlier Tuesday, where Kim will make a stopover before leaving for the United States.

    But Qin denied any arrangements for bilateral meeting between Kim and his Chinese counterpart.

    Qin said he hoped the future DPRK-U.S. meetings could be an important step towards the initial actions which were designed for a full implementation of the September 19 statement and finally towards the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

    Qin noted that China hoped the United States, together with other relevant party, could appropriately resolve the financial sanction issue as soon as possible.

    He said the DPRK and the United States are negotiating issues related to the establishment of their bilateral working group for relationship normalization, and so are the DPRK and Japanese sides on their bilateral group.

    Relevant parties are also keeping close contacts with each other on issues related to the establishment of the working group on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the working group of economy and energy cooperation, and the working group of Northeast Asia peace and security mechanism.