(LEAD) Chinese envoy flies to N. Korea to resume nuclear talks: sources

(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead, 2nd para; ADDS more details throughout)
BEIJING Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- A senior Chinese official left for North Korea
Saturday, apparently on a mission to help resume stalled talks on ending the
North's nuclear program, informed sources said.

According to the sources, Wang Jiarui, head of the Chinese Communist Party's
international department, boarded a North Korean Air Koryo plane heading to
Pyongyang around 1 p.m.
During his four-day trip, he is widely expected to meet with North Korean leader
Kim Jong -il and deliver a message from Chinese President Hu Jintao. The Chinese
official visited North Korea and met Kim in January last year as part of a
regular exchange of visits.
Wang's expected meeting with Kim will be closely watched because it may lead to
the North's return to the nuclear negotiations, also attended by South Korea, the
U.S., Japan, China and Russia.
North Korea has boycotted the nuclear talks since late 2008, but the North Korean
leader told visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last year that his country may
return to the talks following bilateral dialogue with the United States.
A special U.S. representative for North Korea policy, Stephen Bosworth, visited
Pyongyang in December but Pyongyang has yet to declare its return to the
six-party talks.
Also Saturday, a special envoy of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to North
Korea arrived in Seoul and said he would talk with South Korean officials there
about ways to resume six-nation talks on ending North Korea's nuclear programs
when he visits the communist state next week.
Lynn Pascoe, under-secretary-general of the United Nations for political affairs,
stressed his talks in North Korea will include the "entire" range of issues.
A former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, the 66-year-old will take a four-day trip
to Pyongyang starting Tuesday.
sam@yna.co.kr
(END)

Delete & Prev | Delete & Next
Mov