Steve Quayle News Alerts

July 15, 2003

SEOUL, South Korea -- China and North Korea have held "in-depth" talks on Pyongyang's nuclear standoff with the United States during a visit by a special envoy from Beijing.

Diplomats say China's latest approach is a bid to apply pressure on Pyongyang to join multilateral talks on the nuclear crisis.

Washington has insisted on multilateral talks while Pyongyang demands bilateral talks with the United States before any multilateral discussions.

China's state run Xinhua news agency on Tuesday said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo had met various North Korean officials as well as North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, to whom he handed a letter from President Hu Jintao.

The two sides had an "in-depth discussion on issues of mutual concern", a Chinese delegate told Xinhua.

The statement referred to talks on July 12 between Dai and North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju.

While it was not known what was in the letter, or what the two discussed, diplomats say the trip was highly significant, with Dai sent to talk about the nuclear crisis.

To break the impasse between the U.S. and North Korea, Beijing has backed a multilateral framework for the negotiations that would allow for bilateral meetings on the sidelines, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official told a briefing for Western diplomats.

"We hope that various parties can stick to their parts in bringing a peaceful solution and that the Beijing talks can be continued," said Kong Quan, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, referring to the trilateral talks involving North Korea, the U.S. and China in April.

"The formalities are not important. We remain open to the number of participants," Kong added, echoing what Chinese foreign ministry officials told Western diplomats in an earlier briefing.

As North Korea's largest aid donor and trading partner, Beijing holds considerable leverage over its traditional ally in pressuring Pyongyang back to the negotiating table

The crisis began last October when U.S. officials said Pyongyang admitted to a covert nuclear weapons program, in violation of a 1994 pact with Washington.

Since then, North Korea has quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and kicked out U.N. weapons inspectors.

North Korea and the United States seem to have drifted further apart rather than toward talks, but diplomats and analysts said China's decision to intervene was significant.

"As much as anyone can influence North Korea, the Chinese can. Whether Beijing can coax the North into talking multilaterally soon is another matter," said one senior diplomat in Seoul.

"I don't think this gesture alone will bring North Korea to the negotiating table," said Dong Yong-seung of the Samsung Economic Research Centre. "China's activity shows how seriously they view the situation, and I think this is a good start," he told Reuters.

In the past few days, conflicting reports have emerged about whether Pyongyang has reprocessed 8,000 spent fuel rods, a key step toward making atomic bombs.

While the United States and its allies have not been able to verify that conclusively, they have long said Pyongyang could have one or two bombs already.

Dai's visit comes a week after South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun visited China and urged Hu to help persuade the North back into talks.

Kim rarely receives foreign visitors but China is the North's leading ally. The two neighbors signed a mutual defense treaty years ago.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/07/15/nk.china/index.html