Asia-Pacific

Japan envoy to visit China for nuclear talks

(Yonhap)
Updated: 2006-11-26 09:12

Japan's chief negotiator to the six-party talks plans to visit Beijing to work out details on how to resolve North Korea's nuclear issue, the government said Saturday.

It said Kenichiro Sasae will be in the Chinese capital from Sunday through Tuesday for talks with his Chinese counterparts.

Sasae, who is head of the Japanese foreign ministry's Asian and Oceanian affairs bureau, is expected to meet China's vice foreign minister Wu Dawei on Sunday.

Another meeting with Christopher Hill, Washington's point man to the nuclear negotiations, is scheduled for the following day.

Speculation has mounted in diplomatic circles that Sasae, along with Wu and Hill, may meet with North Korea's vice foreign minister Kim Gye-gwan, who is expected to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday.

Kim played a role in North Korea's Oct. 31 announcement that it would rejoin six-party talks after a yearlong boycott.

North Korea detonated a nuclear device on Oct. 9, causing an international uproar and a resolution from the United Nations.

The visit comes as members of the six-party talks prepare for negotiations slated for next month. No dates have been confirmed but moves are under way to get started around the third week of December.

Preliminary talks are important because all sides want to see some progress in laying a solid foundation for future discussions.

Besides North and South Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia are members of the talks aimed at persuading Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program.