US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met her North Korean counterpart for the first time Wednesday as talks by foreign ministers from six nations negotiating North Korea's denuclearisation opened. "This is really the first informal meeting of the six-party talks' foreign ministers. This is quite significant," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said in opening remarks. "This shows that the six parties have the political will to move forward the six-party talks process," he said.