Vice-premier will visit Pyongyang amid tension

Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu will visit Pyongyang next Monday to celebrate a friendship treaty's anniversary, amid continuing tension on the Korean Peninsula.

But despite the visit, on the 45th anniversary of the treaty of friendship between Pyongyang and Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu did not confirm yesterday whether Hui will discuss the stalled Six-Party Talks during his six-day stay in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Jiang said China was "making assiduous efforts" in pushing for a resumption of the talks, which aim to resolve the Korean Peninsula's nuclear standoff.

She neither confirmed nor denied reports that China has proposed to hold informal talks in the week of July 17, to break the current stalemate.

"We are consulting with other parties to find a conducive way to push forward the process," she said.

The six-nation nuclear talks have been stalled since last year, with the DPRK insisting the United States lift sanctions on its companies before they can resume.

Aside from China, the US and the DPRK, the other parties are the Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan and Russia.

Host China has reportedly proposed an unofficial gathering of nuclear envoys from the six parties in the eastern Chinese city of Shenyang, as a prelude to the next round of formal talks in Beijing. The DPRK has not publicly commented on the idea.

"Involved countries are in consultation with each other, keeping the talks' feasibility in view," Yonhap news agency quoted Song Min-soon, chief security aide to ROK President Roh Moo-hyun, as saying at Seoul airport, before he left yesterday on a visit to Washington.

The visit is likely to focus on the DPRK's missile and nuclear programmes.

Tensions across the region increased after recent reports that the DPRK has a long-range ballistic missile on a launch pad on its northeast coast and has taken steps to prepare for a test launch. Some experts say the missile might be able to reach the US mainland with a light payload.

On Monday Pyongyang's state-run media quoted an unidentified analyst saying the DPRK was prepared to answer a US military attack with "a relentless annihilating strike and a nuclear war."

Washington dismissed the threat as "highly hypothetical."

Jiang yesterday also urged Teheran to respond to a package of solutions to Iran's uranium enrichment programme as soon as possible, and called on western powers to show patience and restraint to create conditions for a resumption of talks.

The Iranian nuclear issue is expected to be high on the agenda at the Group of Eight summit in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg next Saturday.

Agencies contributed to the story

Source: China Daily