Chinese envoy meets North Korean leader

SEOUL-Chinese envoys met with North Korea’s reclusive leader yesterday amid worries the country would test another nuclear device, and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice travelled to South Korea to push Seoul to fully support sanctions against the North.

China could play the most important role in discouraging the North from carrying out an apparent threat to stage a second atomic blast. The Chinese mission met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and delivered a message from China’s president, Hu Jinatao, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters in Beijing.It was the highest-level Chinese visit to its isolated ally since the October 9 nuclear test.Liu said the visit was “very significant” but had no details about the message.But the spokesman said the envoys had “in-depth discussions on China-North Korea relations as well as the prevailing situation on the Korean Peninsula.”Liu added, “We hope China’s diplomatic efforts …will bear fruit.”The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said in a brief report the Chinese mission included State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, Beijing’s nuclear envoy Wu Dawei and Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo.Washington hoped that Tang, a former foreign minister, delivered a stern warning to the North Koreans about more atomic blasts, said a senior US official speaking to reporters on Rice’s plane as she traveled to Seoul from Tokyo.Nampa-APThe Chinese mission met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and delivered a message from China’s president, Hu Jinatao, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters in Beijing.It was the highest-level Chinese visit to its isolated ally since the October 9 nuclear test.Liu said the visit was “very significant” but had no details about the message.But the spokesman said the envoys had “in-depth discussions on China-North Korea relations as well as the prevailing situation on the Korean Peninsula.”Liu added, “We hope China’s diplomatic efforts …will bear fruit.”The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said in a brief report the Chinese mission included State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, Beijing’s nuclear envoy Wu Dawei and Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo.Washington hoped that Tang, a former foreign minister, delivered a stern warning to the North Koreans about more atomic blasts, said a senior US official speaking to reporters on Rice’s plane as she traveled to Seoul from Tokyo.Nampa-AP