US and China vow to keep communicating on North Korea nuclear issue
- US envoy Stephen Biegun is seeking Beijing’s cooperation to prod its close ally to return to negotiating table
- Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui hopes Washington will resume talks with Pyongyang ‘as soon as possible’
The top US envoy for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, and his Chinese counterpart agreed on Thursday that the two countries would continue communicating on North Korean issues, with a year-end deadline set by Pyongyang for progress in denuclearisation talks looming.
During their meeting in Beijing, Vice-Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui, who is in charge of Korean peninsula affairs, also expressed hope that Washington would resume talks with Pyongyang “as soon as possible”, according to the Chinese government.
Biegun, who arrived in Beijing earlier in the day, is apparently aiming to bolster cooperation with China to prod the North to return to the negotiating table, observers say. China is known as North Korea’s closest and most influential ally.
But it is uncertain whether the two countries can really join hands over North Korea, given that China has been eager to ease sanctions against Pyongyang, while the United States favours keeping them in place.
Biegun’s trip to China was not initially included in his released itinerary to East Asia. But the US State Department announced on Tuesday that he would visit Beijing, as Washington has been seeking resumption of talks with Pyongyang.