A flurry of diplomatic activities is underway to restart stalled
talks on Korean denuclearization.
Kim Yong Nam, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's
Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), will
pay an official visit to China today.
He will meet President Hu Jintao,
top legislator Wu Bangguo,
Premier Wen
Jiabao and others to discuss diplomatic relations and areas of
common concern. The most important of these is expected to be
nuclear proliferation on the Korean peninsula.
Kim's arrival will precede a visit by US Secretary of State
Colin Powell to Japan, China and Republic of Korea (ROK) that
begins on October 22.
The DPRK nuclear issue and the six-party talks are expected to
top the list of priorities of Powell's three-nation tour after the
fourth round of talks reached a deadlock last month.
On Friday Ning Fukui, China's Special Envoy for DPRK Affairs,
met with US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, the
Assistant Secretary for East Asian Affairs James Kelly and US
Special Envoy to the DPRK Joseph DeTrani.
The US told the meeting that they are still committed to the
six-party process and “remain prepared to go [back to the table] at
an early date," said US Secretary of State spokesman Richard
Boucher.
Ning also paid a visit to the ROK and Japan for discussions on
the same issue before arriving in the US. "Ning's visit to the
countries involved is part of China's efforts to promote a solution
to the nuclear issue of the Korean peninsula through dialogue,"
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said earlier last
week.
The US, China, Japan, Russia, ROK and DPRK are all involved in
talks aimed at realizing the denuclearization of the Korean
peninsula.
Three rounds of the six-party talks, hosted by China, have so
far been held to try to resolve the stalemate between the United
States and DPRK.
(China Daily October 18, 2004)