Senior DPRK official in Beijing for talks

Pyongyang dispatched a senior diplomat to Beijing on Tuesday for talks amid China's efforts to stabilize the Korean Peninsula.

Ri Kil Song, vice-foreign minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, arrived in Beijing at the invitation of China's Foreign Ministry, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular news conference on Tuesday.

Ri will meet with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and hold talks with other Chinese diplomats, including Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin and Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou, Geng said.

It's the first visit of a senior DPRK diplomat to Beijing in about nine months. Ri Su Yong, vice-chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea, traveled to Beijing and met with President Xi Jinping in June last year.

"This visit of the DPRK vice-foreign minister is a normal diplomatic contact and exchange between China and the DPRK," Geng said.