A delegation of top Chinese officials arrived in North Korea on Monday amid a flurry of diplomatic activities to cope with Pyongyang's latest missile tests and renew multilateral nuclear talks, Chinese media said.
The delegation, led by Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, includes Beijing's top nuclear negotiator Wu Dawei, who also chairs the six-way talks on the North's nuclear program.
The officials will stay in Pyongyang till this weekend, mainly to attend a ceremony marking the 45th anniversary of a treaty of friendship between the two nations, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.
But it provided no details on the delegates' itinerary including whether they will meet with North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong-il.
The Chinese officials are expected to clarify Beijing's position on the recent missile launches, sources said, with the United Nations Security Council struggling to decide the level of punishment against Pyongyang.
China and Russia, traditional allies of the communist North, are reportedly opposed to the Japan-drafted sanctions that will ban the transfer of financial resources and technology associated with missile programs to North Korea.
"I think you will see over the course of next couple of days, when we get the results of this Chinese delegation to Pyongyang. I think you will then see us want to move ahead in New York at the Security Council," U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told CNN.
Wu is also likely to use his trip to coax North Korea to end its boycott of the six-party talks.
China has been pushing for an informal session of the six-way talks in its eastern city of Shenyang as a prelude to the formal negotiations in Beijing. North Korea has not responded to the offer, while the U.S., South Korea, Japan and Russia support the initiative.
During his trip to Seoul over the weekend, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said his country would talk bilaterally with North Korea even in the unofficial six-way talks.
"We hope it will be soon because the sooner the better," Hill told reporters here on Sunday before flying to Tokyo, the third leg of his trip to Asia.
Hill, formerly Washington's ambassador to Seoul, said in a separate interview with a South Korean daily that it remains uncertain whether the North's missile test was a simple failure or not.
North Korean scientists might have learned a lot of lessons from the test, and the international community has no time to wait for another missile test by the North, he was quoted as saying.
Seoul, July 10 (Yonhap News)
High-profile Chinese delegation in Pyongyang for talks on missiles, nukes |
