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SLUG: 2-297974 China / Korea's
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DATE=01/02/03 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=CHINA / KOREAS - S & L NUMBER=2-297974 BYLINE=JIM RANDLE DATELINE=BEIJING CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: A top South Korean envoy is in Beijing for talks on ways to cool tensions over North Korea's renewed nuclear program. As V-O-A's Jim Randle reports, it is part of urgent diplomatic efforts among major powers to peacefully resolve the growing crisis. TEXT: South Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Tae-shik met with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi Thursday morning. The talks covered the growing tensions caused by North Korea's recent efforts to re-open a frozen nuclear facility in violation of international agreements. Experts say the Yongbyon nuclear plant could produce plutonium-based weapons. South Korea has indicted it is seeking more active help from China to persuade communist ally, North Korea, to end its nuclear program. Problems surfaced in October when Washington said Pyongyang had admitted to a secret uranium-enrichment program in violation of a 1994 nuclear non-proliferation accord. The United States and it allies suspended oil shipments to the North and began applying diplomatic pressure. North Korea upped the stakes in December when it publicly announced it would re-open its main nuclear plant for energy and kicked out U-N inspectors - who monitor Pyongyang's compliance with treaty obligations. /// REST OPT /// Here in Beijing, China has said repeatedly said it wants a peaceful solution to the standoff and a "nuclear-free" Korean Peninsula. China is North Korea's neighbor and long-time ally, and is thought to have some influence over the isolated communist state through its aid and trade with Pyongyang. The South Korean talks in China are just part of a flurry of top level diplomacy as Seoul, Washington, and Tokyo dispatch envoys to each other's capitals and elsewhere seeking a solution to the dispute. (Signed) NEB/HK/JR/JO |
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