North Korea's second ranking leader was scheduled to meet with China's two most powerful men yesterday as Beijing persisted in its efforts to revive stalled talks on the nuclear standoff.
Pyongyang's top lawmaker Kim Yong-nam was slated to have talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶), both members of a new generation of Chinese leaders with few sentimental ties to traditional ally North Korea.
"During the meetings, they will discuss the political exchanges and the relations between our two sides," foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue (
Observers have said China's top priority is to have the North Koreans agree to a new fixed date for six-country talks on their nuclear ambitions, but so far that endeavor appears to have been unsuccessful.
"As for the time of the next round of six-party talks, it's still up to further discussion carried out by the different parties in an extensive way," said Zhang. Kim met Monday with his Chinese counterpart Wu Bangguo (
Kim had merely stated that the situation remained "complicated" and reiterated North Korea's willingness to continue to "seek peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue through dialogue."
China has hosted three rounds of largely unproductive six-nation talks on the nuclear weapons issue over the past 14 months, and is now apparently involved in an all-out diplomatic effort to salvage the negotiations. Chinese state media tried yesterday to put a positive spin on Kim's remarks in his talks with Wu, as the mass-circulation English-language China Daily claimed on its front page that "Kim says his nation seeks peace in peninsula."
Analysts, however, saw more of the North Korean stalling tactics that have marred negotiations for the past months.
"The North Korean government is very good at these delays," said Joseph Cheng (
Kim is accompanied on his three-day trip by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong-il, who previously headed the North Korean delegation at the six-nation talks, Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
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