Chinese vice premier to visit North Korea
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-30 06:54

Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi will visit North Korea next week amid an ongoing international push to convince the north to give up nuclear weapons development, Chinese officials said.

Wu will be in North Korea Oct. 8-11 and meet with "principal leaders," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang, without providing more details.

They "will exchange views on a lot of international issues of common interest," Qin said at a regular briefing. "The nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula is an issue of common interest for the two sides."

Wu's delegation will include officials from the foreign ministry, the commerce ministry and the State Council, or Cabinet, Qin said.

"We hope the visit of Vice Premier Wu Yi could further promote our friendship and cooperation," Qin said. He added that trade between the two sides reached almost $1.4 billion last year.

Beijing has hosted four rounds of six-nation talks aimed at persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions — a position that has boosted China's role as a peacemaker in the region.

During the last meeting, delegates reached a landmark accord in which North Korea pledged to abandon all its nuclear programs in exchange for economic aid and security assurances. In return, it won recognition of its desire to keep its civilian nuclear program and a pledge to discuss its demand for a light-water nuclear reactor — after it meets international safeguards and rejoins the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

But just hours after, Pyongyang said it will not dismantle its nuclear facilities until it gets light-water reactors from the United States, casting a shadow on the agreement. Washington has rejected that demand.

The nuclear row erupted in October 2002, after U.S. officials alleged North Korea admitted to running a secret nuclear arms program in violation of its earlier promises.