US, S Korea officials to discuss in Beijing 6-way talks resumption

18:35, 24 February 2010

BEIJING. February 24. KAZINFORM Officials of the United States and South Korea at the six-party talks are discussing in the Chinese capital prospects for the resumption of the interrupted dialogue on the settlement of the nuclear problem of the Korean Peninsula. The China Daily newspaper writes on Wednesday that the emissaries of Washington and Seoul are building up efforts in order to intensify the process of returning Pyongyang to the negotiating table; Kazinform refers to ITAR-TASS.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Tuesday that US chief nuclear negotiator Stephen Bosworth who arrives in Beijing on Wednesday will hold consultations with his Chinese colleague Wu Dawei which whom South Korean official Wi Sung-lak already met on Tuesday. The China Daily draws attention to the fact that the series of these consultations are underway in Beijing against the background of contacts held over the past month between representatives of China and North Korea during which the sides discussed issues of the Korean Peninsula's denuclearisation and resumption of the talks.

According to China Daily, Kim Yong-il, director of the International Affairs Department of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, conveyed greetings from top DPRK leader Kim Jong-il to President Hu Jintao when they met at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday.

In talks earlier on Tuesday with his Chinese counterpart Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, the two touched upon denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, the Foreign Ministry said. No details, however, were released, the newspaper says.

According to the publication Wang was in the DPRK from Feb 6 to 9, and in the closely-watched trip, met Kim Jong-il. A day later, DPRK Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Gye-gwan, also the country's top nuclear negotiator, visited China. "(Through the recent visits) China has earned considerable concessions on preconditions by the DPRK for restarting the Six-Party Talks," Seoul's Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, the top nuclear envoys from Washington and Seoul set off for Beijing to discuss with their Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei ways to bring Pyongyang back on track for talks.

"The series of meetings are not a coincidence," said Liu Jiangyong, an expert on East Asian studies at Beijing-based Tsinghua University. "As the Chinese authorities return to work after the Spring Festival holidays, the DPRK, the US and the Republic of Korea (ROK) are strengthening efforts for the resumption of Six-Party Talks," he said.

Pyongyang has come under increasing pressure to take a more conciliatory path and return to the six-nation talks, which also involve Japan and Russia; Kazinform cites ITAR-TASS.

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