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China, S. Korea discuss n-issue

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE Aug. 21. The Chinese President, Hu Jintao, and his South Korean counterpart, Roh Moo-hyun, today held an urgent telephonic conversation on the prospective six-party talks on the suspected nuclear weapons `programme' of the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The three-day parleys are scheduled to begin in Beijing on August 27. Besides China and South Korea as also the DPRK, the other participants will be the U.S., Russia and Japan. Mr. Hu told Mr. Roh of China's view that the planned six-party talks could serve as an important step towards "a peaceful resolution'' of the nuclear issue concerning the DPRK and the Korean peninsula.

Mr. Roh is understood to have reciprocated the sentiment and appreciated China's proactive role in making the ensuing multilateral talks possible. The Sino-South Korean consultations on the nuclear issue are considered significant, with regional diplomats and analysts noting the criticality of Seoul as Pyongyang's ethnic kin and Washington's regional ally. At another level, the U.S. will hold further consultations with both South Korea and Japan on the eve of the upcoming multilateral parleys. With the parties to the imminent six-way talks beginning to name their chief delegates, the DPRK's choice, as monitored in Seoul, came as a surprise to the Asia-Pacific diplomatic community.

The DPRK Vice-Foreign Minister, Kim Yong-il, is expected to occupy the centre-stage as Pyongyang's prime negotiator during the forthcoming Beijing talks. Known to have been a specialist in African affairs in the past, Mr. Kim had begun dealing with matters concerning China only a few months ago. It is this aspect that has led to speculation in diplomatic circles that Mr. Kim, while being a relatively unexpected choice, might still be able to interact very closely with the Chinese authorities to signal the importance of the Sino-North Korean equation to the outcome of the process of parleys now being set on course.

Mr. Kim had, in recent weeks, held talks with top Chinese officials. At one such meeting, an accord about the timing of the upcoming Beijing talks was decided upon. For the DPRK, exclusive discussions with the U.S. have become a matter of urgency in Washington's plans to hold military exercises with countries of Asia-Pacific. The U.S. initiative is seen to be related to the idea of fashioning methods to prevent the DPRK from gaining access to nuclear proliferation methods and materials. It is significant that the South Korean Foreign Minister, Yoon Young-kwan, has indicated that a U.S.-DPRK "bilateral meeting in some format'' would be held on the sidelines of the proposed multilateral talks.

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