North Korea told China its nuclear standoff with the US was approaching an "unpredictably difficult phase" as Japanese media reported the isolated communist state might be softening its stand on talks.
Underlining tensions on the divided peninsula, South Korea said its navy had fired warning shots yesterday after a North Korean patrol boat briefly crossed their disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea.
North Korean parliament chief Kim Yong-nam commented on the nuclear standoff when he met Wu Bangguo (
Kim "pointed out that the situation in Northeast Asia centring around the Korean Peninsula is reaching an unpredictably difficult phase due to the US invariable hostile policy" towards North Korea, the North's KCNA news agency said.
For his part Wu, China's parliament chief and its most senior leader to visit the impoverished and isolated North since then president Jiang Zemin (
"He said that the Chinese side supports the improvement of the relations between the north and the south of the Korean Peninsula and the realization of its independent and peaceful reunification," KCNA said.
Japanese media reports yesterday said that North Korea was no longer demanding a non-aggression treaty with the US and would settle instead for a letter of assurance on its security from US President George W. Bush.
Bush said this month that the US and its partners were all willing to sign a document, not a treaty, declaring "We won't attack you" so long as North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
North Korea initially dismissed the proposal as "laughable" but said later it was prepared to consider it.
Yesterday's naval confrontation was quickly resolved when the North Korean vessel turned back. Seoul's Defense Ministry said it was believed to have crossed the maritime line while monitoring Chinese fishing vessels near rich crab-fishing grounds.
Nevertheless, with North Korea seemingly edging towards talks, any military action is closely watched.
Wu's visit has raised hopes that Beijing can persuade Pyongyang to attend a new round of six-party talks on the crisis.
China hosted an inconclusive round of talks in late August with North Korea, the US, South Korea, Japan and Russia to try to end the standoff.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue (章啟月) dismissed news reports that China had pressured North Korea to come to the negotiating table.
"We don't apply any kind of pressure in diplomacy," she told reporters in Beijing. "This is China's diplomatic style."
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