Beijing  - North Korean Premier Kim Yong Il arrived Tuesday in China for talks at which Chinese leaders were expected to press North Korea to resume dialogue on ending its nuclear weapons programme.

North Korea's ministers of agriculture, foreign trade, culture and metallurgy are accompanying Kim on his five-day visit, Chinese state media said.

The foreign ministry said that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao would discuss a range of bilateral and regional issues with Kim, whose trip is timed to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two nations.

On Friday, Wen urged North Korea and the five other nations involved in talks on its nuclear weapons programme to exercise restraint and "refrain from taking actions that may escalate tensions."

"We hope that parties involved in the six-party talks will further build consensus," he told reporters.

"We want to resolve the key issues plaguing the six-party talks so that we can move forward and realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Wen said.

Kim's visit is his first to China since taking office in April 2007.

It follows North Korea's announcement that it plans to launch a communications satellite in early April, amid international concern that the plan is really a cover for a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

South Korea, the United States and Japan have all raised concerns about the North Korean plans.

North Korea, the United States, China, South Korea, Russia and Japan have taken part in several rounds of protracted talks aimed at negotiating an end to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme in return for energy and other concessions from the other nations. (dpa)