President Hu calls for restraint on Korean issue

President Hu Jintao on Friday called on all parties to be patient and restrained and to push forward the Six-Party Talks aimed at making the Korean Peninsula nuclear-free.

He made the appeal when talking with his Republic of Korea (ROK) counterpart Roh Moo-hyun by phone.

Hu urged the parties to follow the principle of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.

Hu said he hoped all parties would handle the peninsula issues in a discreet and responsible way and avoid any actions that may further complicate the situation.

Hu urged all parties to do more to promote dialogue, enhance mutual trust and ease the tense situation in order to strive for an early resumption of the six-nation talks.

China is committed to finding a peaceful resolution of the Korean Peninsula issue through dialogue, Hu said.

Speaking highly of the active efforts made by the Chinese side in resolving issues on the Korean Peninsula, Roh said the ROK is willing to work with other concerned parties to continue promoting the resumption of the Six-Party Talks.

Hu's remarks came as top US envoy to the Six-Party Talks Christopher Hill was reported to have said on Thursday the US wants to meet with the ROK, Japan, Russia and China next week to figure out a way to draw the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) back to the negotiation table.

"We have not noticed related reports, but whether a five-nation discussion is to be held is still not a deal," said a Foreign Ministry official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a news briefing last week China insists the six-nation talks are a "realistic and effective" mechanism for solving the nuclear standoff on the Korean Peninsula.

Hill, who is the US Assistant Secretary of State, said after a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Thursday that "the purpose (of the five-nation discussions) is to chart the way forward," AFP reported. "We'd like to be ready and move ahead," the report quoted Hill as saying.

He told reporters that the goal was to include the DPRK at the five-nation gathering on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) annual meeting of foreign ministers in Malaysia. But, he added, the DPRK "does not seem to want to go to six-party meetings right now."

Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing is expected to attend the Malaysian meeting to be held between next Wednesday and Friday. It involves foreign ministers of the ASEAN members plus China, Japan and the ROK.

The DPRK has boycotted the six-nation talks since last November. It refused to go back to the negotiation table, accusing the US of imposing economic sanctions for alleged counterfeiting and money laundering.

Observers of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue are cautiously optimistic about whether the proposed five-nation talks will help find a solution to the nuclear standoff.

The so-called five-nation discussions, which leave out the DPRK, could irritate Pyongyong, which might continue to refuse to go back to the negotiation table, said Piao Jianyi, a researcher on the Korean Peninsula issue at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

Professor Jin Xide, also a researcher on international relations at the CASS, said the key to solving the current stalemate on the DPRK nuclear disarmament rests with both Washington and Pyongyang reaching a compromise on the question of economic sanctions.

"If the crucial problem can't be solved, any form of talks is useless," Jin said on Friday.

Source: China Daily