S. Korea's unification minister to meet Chinese officials amid nuclear stalemate

Beijing, Dec. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's unification minister arrived in Bejing
Sunday on a four-day trip to meet with senior Beijing officials amid a stalemate
in international talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear programs
Kim Ha-joong, who served as Seoul's envoy to Beijing for six years and five
months before taking the Cabinet post in March, was expected to exchange views
with several Chinese cabinet ministers.
Kim plans to meet with Dai Bingguo, China's state councilor, Wang Jiarui, head of
the Chinese Communist Party's international liaison department, and Foreign
Minister Yang Jiechi, the ministry officials said earlier this week. Kim was also
to meet Wu Dawei, Chinese vice foreign minister and chief envoy on North Korea
denuclearization talks, who is also a close personal acquaintance.
The latest six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program, involving the two
Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia, ended without progress last week amid
a dispute on verification of Pyongyang's nuclear dismantlement.
Inter-Korean relations are also frozen, with a senior North Korean military
official, Kim Yong-chol, issuing a fresh warning this week that his government
will continue sanctions on South Korean companies operating in its border town of
Kaesong should Seoul maintain its hardline policy toward Pyongyang. The North
expelled hundreds of South Koreans in the Kaesong industrial complex, curtailed
border traffic and suspended tours to its mountain resort by South Koreans as of
Dec. 1 after months of strained relations.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has adopted a tougher policy toward the
North than his liberal predecessors, demanding concrete denuclearization by
Pyongyang and more reciprocity in return for Seoul's aid.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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