SEOUL, South Korea - China's nuclear envoy met top South Korean
officials on Friday to discuss a new approach aimed at persuading North Korea to
return to long-stalled international talks on its nuclear program.
The trip to Seoul by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei comes as efforts
to restart the six-party nuclear talks picked up pace after nearly a year of
deadlock. The negotiations, involving China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and
the United States, last convened in November.
Wu's meetings were expected to focus on a joint strategy that South Korean
President Roh Moo-hyun and US President George W. Bush agreed to pursue at a
summit earlier this month.
Roh said Thursday that the strategy was outlined to North Korea, but it
hasn't given any response so far. Roh declined to give any details of what was
contained in the proposal.
"A good plan was discussed at the South Korea-US summit," South Korean
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon told Wu on Friday. "I hope South Korea and China
would hold consultations (on the plan) so as to resume the six-party talks at an
early date."
Wu met earlier Friday with his South Korean counterpart, Chun Yung-woo, who
returned Thursday from an extended trip to the United States where he sought to
flesh out the strategy aimed at luring North Korea back to the negotiating table
with the main US nuclear negotiator, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher
Hill.
North Korea has refused to return to the talks in anger over US fforts to cut
off its access to international banking because of the communist regime's
alleged counterfeiting of US dollars and money laundering.
The need to get North Korea back to the negotiating table has taken on added
urgency since it test-fired a series of missiles in July. Reports have also
suggested it might conduct a nuclear test to further escalate tension.
The North boasts it has nuclear bombs, but the claim has not been
independently verified. Many experts believe the North has enough radioactive
material to build at least a half-dozen or more nuclear weapons.
The US has rebuffed the North's long-standing demand for direct talks, but
has recently shown signs of softening that stance. The US ambassador to South
Korea, Alexander Vershbow, said earlier this week that Washington is open to
"new approaches" and bilateral talks are possible only if the North promises to
return to the six-party negotiations.
North Korea remains adamant in its demand for a lifting of the US financial
restrictions. One of the country's vice foreign ministers, Choe Su Hon, told the
UN General Assembly this week that it is impossible to resume the nuclear talks
while under the US sanctions.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also said this week that she would
consider a trip to Asia to see if "one last push" can be made to get North Korea
back to the negotiations.
