Foreign and Military Affairs

Seoul's top nuke envoy to visit China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-07 15:03

SEOUL - Republic of Korea's top envoy to stalled six-party nuclear talks is scheduled to visit China Wednesday to meet with his counterpart, the foreign ministry here said Tuesday.

Wi Sung-lac will meet Thursday with China's representative to the talks, Wu Dawei, to discuss nuclear issues of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and inter-Korean relations, according to the ministry.

The meeting comes amid dimming chances for inter-Korean dialogue, which major players in the six-party talks see as a precondition for resuming the stalled denuclearization talks.

Pyongyang, claiming that Seoul "begged" for inter-Korean summits during their secret meeting last month, vowed last week it will not "deal with" Seoul anymore. Seoul officials played down the accusations as a "unilateral" claim but admitted to the meeting in Beijing.

The six-party talks, which also involves host China, the United States, Japan and Russia, were last held in December 2008.

The DPRK, which has expressed its intention to return to the negotiation table after declaring the talks "dead" in 2009, recently revealed a new uranium enrichment facility.