Chinese vice premier visits Pyongyang, praises new nuke talks

Oct 23, 2011, 16:43 GMT

Seoul - Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Pyongyang Sunday for a three-day visit that coincides with a US-North Korean meeting - the second in three months - set to start Monday in Geneva.

Li is expected to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong II, and then travel to South Korea on Wednesday for two days of talks with his counterparts in that country.

On Monday and Tuesday, the US and North Korea are expected to meet to discuss how they can resume denuclearization talks.

Li voiced his support for the diplomatic efforts.

'China approves North Korea's positive efforts for better relations with South Korea and the US, and for a resumption of the six-nation talks aimed at nuclear disarmament,' Li's statement said.

During an October interview with Russian news agency Itar-Tass, Kim said his government remained committed to a 2005 agreement made between the six counties - North and South Korea, the United States, Russia, Japan and China - in which Pyongyang agreed to dismantle its nuclear programme in return for economic aid and diplomatic concessions.

But the six-nation talks have been stalled since the end of 2008.

North Korea ended talks in April 2009 and subsequently conducted a nuclear test.

North Korea has since said it wants to resume talks, but the US, South Korea and Japan have insisted it demonstrate its seriousness by stopping uranium enrichment and allowing the return of UN nuclear inspectors.

On October 19, the US State Department announced that Stephen Bosworth and Glyn Davies, its ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, would meet a North Korean delegation, led by First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, for talks.

Davies replaces Stephen Bosworth, who will step down after next week's meeting.

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