Seoul: Visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao
met North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il late on Monday amid efforts to
bring Pyongyang back to nuclear disarmament talks, Beijing's
state media reported.
"Premier Wen Jiabao held talks with North Korea's top
leader Kim Jong-Il today evening," Xinhua news agency said on
its website, without providing further details.
Wen's high-profile three-day visit is officially
described as a goodwill trip to attend celebrations marking
the 60th anniversary of China-North Korea diplomatic
relations.
But efforts to bring the North back to the six-nation
disarmament talks chaired by China are high on the agenda. In
April the North announced it was quitting the forum, and it
staged its second nuclear test in May.
In Wen's talks yesterday with Premier Kim Yong-Il and
other senior officials, the North again expressed willingness
to achieve denuclearisation through "bilateral and
multilateral dialogues," Pyongyang's state media reported.
The North, however, blamed the United States for the
nuclear standoff and linked denuclearisation of the Korean
peninsula to the pace of global atomic disarmament efforts.
Wen for his part said Sunday that "dialogue and
consultation" is the only way to solve the Korean peninsula's
nuclear issue, according to Xinhua.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, October 05, 2009, 23:46