(3rd LD) N. Korean leader reiterates pledge to denuclearize Korean Peninsula: report

(ATTN: UPDATES with NK nuclear envoy's arrival in Beijing, Chinese president's
invitation)
By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has reportedly told a
senior Chinese envoy that he remains committed to a nuclear-free Korean
Peninsula, though it was unclear whether Kim indicated any clear intention to
rejoin the stalled denuclearization talks.
Kim's comments on his commitment in principle to denuclearization efforts are
similar to earlier statements he has made. The latest remarks, which came during
a meeting with a senior Chinese envoy, are drawing attention, however, as Kim
sent his chief nuclear negotiator to Beijing following the meeting.
The North's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, who serves as the country's lead
nuclear negotiator, arrived in the Chinese capital on the same flight with the
Chinese envoy, Wang Jiarui, who is head of the international department of the
Communist Party of China. Wang headed back home after a four-day trip to
Pyongyang that included a rare meeting with Kim Jong-il.
Kim Kye-gwan, in his surprise trip to Beijing, is expected to hold discussions on
the nuclear standoff with Chinese officials.
According to China's official Xinhua news agency, the North's leader told Wang
that Pyongyang's "persistent stance to realize the denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula" remains unchanged. Kim also told the envoy that the "sincerity of
relevant parties to resume the six-party talks is very important."
But the news agency stopped short of saying whether the North's leader promised
to rejoin the stalled six-nation talks on ending its nuclear weapons programs,
which involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. The
talks have been deadlocked for more than a year.
Xinhua also said Chinese President Hu Jintao extended an invitation to the
North's leader to visit Beijing.
Earlier in the day, Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency carried a report on
Kim's meeting with Wang, saying that the Chinese envoy conveyed to Kim a
"personal message" from the Chinese leader. The KCNA did not elaborate on its
content.
Adding to the flurry of diplomacy to jumpstart the nuclear talks, U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special envoy, Lynn Pascoe, was to fly to
Pyongyang on Tuesday for a four-day trip in the U.N.'s first bilateral talks with
the North since 2004. The nuclear dispute is expected to be on the agenda for his
discussions with North Korean officials.
In Seoul, a government official said the brisk diplomatic activities involving
North Korea bodes well for the fate of the troubled six-way talks.
"Those busy diplomatic efforts are a positive sign in international efforts to
bring North Korea back to the six-party talks," the official told Yonhap News
Agency, requesting anonymity. He added that the nuclear talks may be resumed at
an early date, given the pace of diplomatic efforts.
"It is hard to predict when the six-way talks will be resumed but it is clear
that a positive mood is being created," he said.
North Korea withdrew from the nuclear talks in April last year in anger over a
U.N. rebuke of its long-range rocket launch widely condemned as a test of its
missile technology. The communist regime conducted its second nuclear test in May
and a series of banned ballistic missile launches in the following months.
But since August last year, Pyongyang has tried to reach out to South Korea and
the U.S. amid U.N. sanctions.
The North now demands the lifting of sanctions as a condition for its return to
the nuclear negotiations. The regime has also renewed its long-standing demand
that the United States and other parties involved sign a peace treaty that will
replace the 1953 armistice that ended the three-year Korean War.
Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific
affairs, just concluded a trip to Seoul and Tokyo to reconfirm that the three
countries will not discuss easing U.N. sanctions on the North or a peace treaty
to replace the Korean War armistice unless North Korea first returns to the
six-party talks.
U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley Friday praised China's effort to
revive the nuclear talks.
"The Chinese senior officials have regular discussions with North Korea," Crowley
said. "We value that leadership by China."
North Korea has been sending confusing signals, recently firing artillery rounds
along its maritime border with South Korea while proposing talks with South Korea
for joint projects. On Monday, the two sides held talks on ways to resume
suspended projects for South Korean tourists to visit North Korean tourist sites,
but the meeting ended without an agreement.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sunday said the Obama administration will
continue engaging North Korea, which she described as "a nuclear-armed country,"
calling for the North's return to the denuclearization talks.
"Engagement has brought us a lot in the last year," Clinton told CNN. "When we
said that we were willing to work with North Korea if they were serious about
returning to the six-party talks and about denuclearizing in an irreversible way,
they basically did not respond in the first instance."
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)