SOUTH KOREA/CHINA: Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada meets with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Seoul

Record ID: 463457

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA/CHINA: Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada meets with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Seoul
  • Date: 12th February 2010
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (FEBRUARY 11, 2010) (REUTERS) JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTER KATSUYA OKADA AND SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT LEE MYUNG-BAK ENTERING MEETING ROOM AND SHAKING HANDS VIEW OF MEETING OKADA AND LEE AT MEETING LEE SPEAKING OKADA SPEAKING VARIOUS OF JAPANESE DELEGATION AT MEETING SOUTH KOREAN OFFICIALS AT MEETING MEETING BEIJING, CHINA (FEBRUARY 11, 2010) (REUTERS) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON MA ZHAOXU WALKING IN FOR NEWS CONFERENCE CAMERAMAN FILMING JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON MA ZHAOXU SAYING: "We can confirm that Kim Kye-gwan is currently visiting China. Kim is in China by the invitation of Wu Dawei, Chinese special envoy to North Korea. Wu and Kim already held talks and exchanged views on issues including Sino-North Korean relationship, six-party talks and other issues of common interest." JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON MA ZHAOXU SAYING: "The Chinese government decided to appoint Wu Dawei as the special envoy to North Korea. I believe that setting up such position shows that Chinese government is attaching great importance to the trend of situation of Korean peninsula and the six-party talks. I want to reiterate that China hopes each parties work together to push for resumption of the six-party talks as early as possible." NEWS CONFERENCE ON PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 27th February 2010 12:00
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  • Reuters ID: LVABRWQWDJCXBEXVMHIP5MLKC0WZ
  • Story Text: Japanese foreign minister meets with South Korean president in Seoul, amid international moves pressuring North Korea to return to the nuclear talks.
    Visiting Japanese foreign minister met with South Korean president on Thursday (February 11) in Seoul, amid active international moves pressuring North Korea to return to the nuclear talks.
    Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada held a meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, after discussing bilateral issues with his counterpart Yu Myung-hwan.
    Earlier in the day, the two ministers shared the view that sanctions on North Korea will not be removed until Pyongyang returns to the six-party talks and takes serious steps toward scraping its nuclear arms programme.
    North Korea has come under increasing pressure to return to the forum it has boycotted for more than a year as U.N. sanctions imposed after its nuclear test last year dry up its coffers and a financial policy blunder in late 2009 adds to its economic woes.
    The talks involve the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China and began in 2003.
    North Korea has called for a peace treaty with United States to replace the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War as a condition to returning to the disarmament deal that it has signed in 2005 in return for massive economic aid.
    North Korean leader Kim Jong-il told a visiting Chinese envoy this week that his country is willing to talk about how to restart the stalled multinational process.
    Pyongyang has also sent it's own envoy to Beijing in the same week, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu confirmed on Thursday (February 11) Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan is in Beijing on an official visit, he told journalists at a regular news briefing in the capital.
    "We can confirm that Kim Kye-gwan is currently visiting China. Kim is in China by the invitation of Wu Dawei, Chinese special envoy to North Korea. Wu and Kim already held talks and exchanged views on issues including Sino-North Korean relationship, six-party talks and other issues of common interest," he said.
    Ma also announced the appointment of China's previous chief negotiator at the six-party talks, Wu Dawei, as China's special envoy to North Korea.
    "Chinese government decided to appoint Wu Dawei as the special envoy to North Korea. I believe that setting up such position shows that Chinese government is attaching great importance to the trend of situation of Korean peninsula and the six-party talks. I want to reiterate that China hopes each parties work together to push for resumption of the six-party talks as early as possible," he said.
    Some analysts said the dispatch of Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, who represents the North at the six-way forum, to Beijing indicates that the two countries are working out a face-saving measure for Pyongyang to return to dialogue.
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