U.N. chief sends personal message to N. Korean leader: state media

SEOUL, Feb. 11 (Yonhap) -- United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sent a
personal message to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il via his special envoy,
Pyongyang's state media said Thursday, as part of an international effort to
persuade the communist state to rejoin the denuclearization talks.

The reclusive North Korean leader "received a verbal personal message and a gift
from the U.N. secretary general," the state's Korean Central News Agency said,
without specifying the contents of the message.
It said the message was conveyed by U.N. undersecretary-general for political
affairs Lynn Pascoe to Pyongyang's No. 2 leader Kim Yong-Nam.
Pascoe, who has been on a four-day trip to Pyongyang since Tuesday to discuss
nuclear and humanitarian issues, is the highest-ranking U.N. diplomat to visit
North Korea.
As the two officials met in Pyongyang, top nuclear negotiators from China and
North Korea held talks in Beijing for the third consecutive day over the issue of
resuming the suspended multinational negotiations aimed at ending the North's
nuclear ambitions in return for aid.
North Korea's Kim Kye Gwan was in Beijing at the invitation of his Chinese
counterpart, Wu Dawei, and the two exchanged views on the six-nation nuclear
talks, according to the Chinese government.
North Korea walked away from the talks that group South Korea, the United States,
China, Japan and Russia last year after conducting a second atomic test.
The hunger-stricken state, however, has implied in recent statements its
willingness to return to the negotiation table in return for aid and a lifting of
international sanctions imposed last year over its missile tests.
Impoverished North Korea relies on outside aid to feed its 24 million people, and
the food shortage is expected to be worse this year, according to recent reports
in Seoul.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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