SOUTH KOREA: U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell urges China to encourage talks between North and South Korea and says China was "concerned" about the disruption in talks

Record ID: 186980

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA: U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell urges China to encourage talks between North and South Korea and says China was "concerned" about the disruption in talks
  • Date: 11th June 2011
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (JUNE 10) (AGENCY POOL) ( ** BEWARE FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **) MEETING BETWEEN CAMPBELL AND SOUTH KOREAN CHIEF NUCLEAR ENVOY WI SUNG-IAK WITH DELEGATES CAMPBELL SPEAKING AND WI LISTENING CAMPBELL SPEAKING WI SPEAKING MEETING IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 26th June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Korea, Republic of
  • Country: South Korea
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7ASF7Y3FW81TGAQDYPB9GCYRE
  • Story Text: U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell on Friday (June 10) said the U.S. urged China to encourage dialogue between North and South Korea.
    "We urged China to make best efforts to encourage North Korea to improve relations with South Korea. I think it will be fair to say that the Chinese interlocutors were concerned by the disruption in talks, and surprised, and very much want to see improvement in dialogue between the North and the South," Campbell, told journalists at the South Korean foreign ministry in Seoul.
    Campbell is due to meet South Korea's chief nuclear envoy Wi Sung-lak later on Friday to discuss North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
    The North had previously walked out of aid-for-disarmament talks over two years ago, after the United Nations imposed a new round of sanctions against it for conducting nuclear and missile tests.
    Earlier in the day, Campbell also met South Korea's Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan.
    Wi met his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei in Beijing on Thursday (June 9) and the Russia's deputy nuclear negotiator Grigory Logvinov in Seoul on Friday, to discuss North Korea's nuclear ambitions and the resumption of six-party talks.
    The six-party talks seek an end to the North's nuclear weapons ambitions in return for aid and would bring together North and South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia for the talks.
    North and South Korea are still technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce without a peace treaty.
    Both the United States and China - the main allies of the South and North, respectively - have urged the rivals to return to the negotiating table to sort out their differences to allow for the resumption of stalled nuclear talks.
    Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been high since North Korea's torpedo attacked a South Korean warship last year, killing 46 sailors and the reclusive country shelled South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island last November, killing four people including two civilians.
    The attacks, one of which the North denies and the other it says was an act of self-defence, drove tensions on the peninsula to their highest level in years.
    Both the United States and South Korea have sent mixed messages on whether the North's apology is a prerequisite for talks to advance to the second U.S.-North Korea dialogue.
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