BEIJING — A North Korean envoy visiting China said his country would “accept the proposal” by Chinese officials to open up dialogue, the state-run China News Service reported Thursday, a possible signal that the North would agree to talks on its nuclear program.

The comments were reported after the envoy, Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae, met Liu Yunshan, who is a member of the Communist Party Standing Committee in China and the politician who heads ideological affairs for the party. Mr. Liu was quoted as repeating a frequent appeal by China for a resumption of talks that would result in the removal of nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula “as soon as possible.”

Few diplomats believe that the North is prepared to be involved in so-called six-party talks that aim to strip it of its nuclear weapons. The international six-party talks on the North’s nuclear program — involving the United States, North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia — collapsed in 2008 after North Korea walked out. Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed an interest in talks of some nature with North Korea.

China is North Korea’s biggest benefactor, but relations have been strained in recent months. Experts say that the North bridles at China’s insistence on paying low prices for its iron ore, and that Chinese officials are annoyed by the North’s defiance of entreaties to refrain from missile and nuclear tests.