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Blair Arrives in China for Talks on North Korea
VOA News
20 Jul 2003, 20:44 UTC

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is in Beijing, where he will meet with China's top leaders on the North Korean nuclear crisis.

Before traveling to China Sunday, Mr. Blair held talks on the same subject with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.

At a joint news conference in Seoul, the two leaders agreed the stand-off over North Korea's nuclear weapons program should be handled through peaceful means.

They also stressed South Korea and Japan should be involved in any future diplomatic dialogue with Pyongyang.

But, neither leader commented on a U.S. newspaper report published Sunday that claims Pyongyang may have built a second, secret plant for producing nuclear weapons-grade plutonium.

The New York Times quotes U.S. and Asian officials as saying strong evidence has emerged suggesting North Korea may have hidden the plant in mountains.

The newspaper says sensors on the Korean border have detected elevated levels of a gas emitted when plutonium is reprocessed from nuclear fuel. It says the source of the gas appears not to be North Korea's nuclear plant at Yongbyon, but another location.

During his two-day trip to China, Mr. Blair is expected to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao and other government officials. China is his third stop on an Asian tour that also took him to Japan. North Korea has been demanding one-on-one (bilateral) talks with the United States. But analysts say there are indications Pyongyang may be softening its position, allowing other regional powers to participate in negotiations -- as the Bush Administration has stressed.

The North Korean nuclear crisis began in October when the United States said Pyongyang admitted to having a secret nuclear development program in violation of a 1994 treaty.

Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.