Chinese envoy to aid North Korea talks

A top Chinese Communist Party official will travel to North Korea this week, the foreign ministry said today, amid renewed efforts to get Pyongyang to resume stalled talks on its nuclear weapons programme.

Foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan confirmed reports that Wang Jiarui, head of the Chinese Communist Party’s international department, would visit Pyongyang “this week.”

But Kong would not provide any dates.

China, North Korea’s biggest ally, has said it strongly favours a nuclear-free Korean peninsula but has urged patience in dealing with Pyongyang.

The announcement came as top US and South Korean negotiators were in Beijing seeking a breakthrough in resuming the multi-nation talks on dismantling Northv Korea’s nuclear programme.

The six-party talks were suspended in June after three rounds produced little progress. China, the Koreas, the United States, Russia and Japan participated.

North Korea has rejected calls to resume the negotiations and recently announced it has produced nuclear weapons.