China and Russia have reaffirmed their commitment to the resumption of the long-stalled multilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear dismantlement, according to China's foreign ministry Tuesday.

The agreement was made between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting held on the sidelines of a World War II event in Moscow on Saturday, according to a statement posted on the Chinese ministry's website.

The joint statement, signed by Putin and Xi, said they "agreed that the six-party talks is the effective way to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue."

Putin and Xi also expressed hope that nations involved in the six-party talks can "meet halfway" to help restart the six-party talks.

The six-nation talks aimed at persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear ambition, involving South Korea, North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, have been dormant since late 2008.

Since then, North Korea has advanced its nuclear capabilities by conducting its second and third nuclear tests, in 2009 and 2013.

Some experts now warn that the communist nation's nuclear arsenal could expand to 100 bombs by 2020.

South Korea's top nuclear envoy for the six-party talks, Hwang Joon-kook, said last week that five nations are now ready to hold "exploratory talks" with North Korea without any preconditions to test the communist nation's denuclearization commitment before resuming formal negotiations.

However, prospects about holding such preliminary talks with the North are still uncertain because Pyongyang shows no signs of giving up its nuclear ambition, Hwang said. (Yonhap)