Chinese FM to meet N.Korea's Kim Jong-il
(Agencies) Updated: 2007-07-03 15:34
BEIJING - Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi is to meet North Korean leader
Kim Jong-il later on Tuesday, a ministry spokesman said, as uncertainty
continued over when Pyongyang may shut its nuclear reactor.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, left, meets Vice North
Korean Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il in Pyongyang, Tuesday, July 3, 2007,
in this image made from TV. [AP]
| Yang, who arrived in Pyongyang on
Monday, earlier met the North Korean foreign minister and other officials to
discuss expanding cooperation, in particular trade ties, Foreign Ministry
spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news conference in Beijing.
He gave no
details of Yang's scheduled meeting with Kim.
Qin said the officials had
agreed to work towards implementing a February agreement aimed at scrapping
Pyongyang's nuclear programme in exchange for energy assistance and security
guarantees.
"Both sides positively evaluated bilateral relations and
reached agreement on strengthening cooperation," Qin said.
He said Yang
would "express China's consistent stance on using peaceful means and
consultation and dialogue to resolve the Korean peninsula nuclear issue".
Yang, making his first visit as foreign minister to North Korea, is
expected to leave on Wednesday.
His trip follows a visit by officials
from the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog last week after North Korea agreed to move
ahead on a disarmament-for-aid deal reached at six-party talks in February.
China hosts the disarmament talks that also include South Korea, the
United States, Japan and Russia.
The six reached a deal on February 13
under which North Korea would receive energy aid, security guarantees and
better diplomatic standing in return for ending its nuclear arms programmes,
starting by closing its Yongbyon reactor.
The agreement stalled over
some $25 million in North Korean funds which a Macau bank had frozen under U.S.
pressure. Pyongyang demanded that it receive the money before proceeding, but it
took weeks for U.S. officials to work out how to send it.
Now new
uncertainty has emerged over when North Korea will shut down Yongbyon, which
produces plutonium that can go into nuclear weapons.
North Korea has
said it first wants to receive some promised fuel oil shipments, Washington
officials have told Reuters.
Chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill said
last week he wanted Pyongyang to close Yongbyon before holding a new round of
six-country talks, possibly next week.
But the Washington officials said
Pyongyang had told South Korea, which is providing the oil, and the
International Atomic Energy Agency that it wanted at least some of the heavy
fuel oil before the reactor closes.
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