Seoul, September 28: China’s prime minister will visit North Korea early next week for a trip that could help revive talks stalled for nearly a year on ending Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.
Analysts said China, the closest thing that destitute North Korea has for a major ally, would not be sending such a high profile visitor unless it has won some assurance from Pyongyang that could ease tension over the nuclear standoff.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao “will pay an official goodwill visit” to North Korea from October 4 to 6, the KCNA news agency said in a one sentence dispatch on Monday.
The South’s Yonhap news agency quoted diplomatic sources in Beijing as saying there could be an announcement during Wen’s visit about the dormant six-country talks over the North’s nuclear disarmament.
“There probably will be significant talks between Wen and leader Kim Jong-il not only on their relations, but of events over the Korean peninsula and nuclear arms,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the South’s University of North Korean Studies.
Earlier this month, Kim Jong-il told a visiting envoy from China that he will work to end his state’s nuclear arms program through multilateral talks.
Statements from the North’s iron-leader Kim almost always lead to action and analysts said the latest comments indicate a return to some form of discussions. They also expect Pyongyang will hold true to form by making denuclearization pledges without following through on them.
Reclusive North Korea, with its back against the wall, in recent months has reached out to the international community after being hit with U.N. sanctions for a nuclear test in May that were aimed at cutting off a vital source of hard currency from its arms sales.
SPUTTERING NUCLEAR TALKS
Separately, the foreign ministers from China, Japan and South Korea were expected to meet on Monday in Shanghai, with North Korea’s nuclear program high on their agenda.
Sputtering talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States ground to a halt about a year ago, with Pyongyang saying it will boycott the sessions until Washington drops its hostile attitude.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said in a joint interview with wire services on Friday that it is important for the international community to work closely “so that North Korea will be in a position whereby they will have no choice but to give up all of their nuclear weapons.”
In a move that has decreased tensions among the rival Koreas, the North allowed for reunions starting at the weekend of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
Pyongyang had suspended the highly emotional meetings after Lee was elected about two years ago in anger at his plans to cut off unconditional aid and instead tie handouts to moves it makes aimed at defusing tensions.
North Korea indicated it was expecting a show of “goodwill” from the South for resuming the reunions, which the head of the South’s spy agency reportedly said was likely a request to resume massive food aid suspended after Lee took office.
—Agencies