American top nuclear envoy Christopher Hill has said this week's North Korea nuclear disarmament talks would focus on ways to verify a recent declaration of its atomic activities.

Hill made the remark in Beijing on Tuesday before renewed six-party talks on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue, which will restart for the first time in nine months on Thursday.

"I think now we're getting back to the six parties, and I think the main objective, as the Chinese stated, would be to work out the verification regime to complete phase two, and we're also hopeful that maybe we can have a discussion about phase three and see if we can get on with completing the task."

China announced earlier on Tuesday that talks would resume with the representatives from the other five countries - the U.S., Russia, Japan, and North and South Korea involved.

Negotiations had been on hold since last October over North Korea's alleged failure to provide a complete list of its nuclear facilities.

But Pyongyang's decision to turn over the declaration last month- and subsequently destroy a symbolic nuclear cooling tower - has ignited hopes for a breakthrough on the stalled talks.