S. Korea, China to cooperate to ensure NK stability

Seoul’s top nuclear envoy will visit US to discuss 6-way talks

By Park Si-soo

South Korea and China have agreed to enhance cooperation to ensure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula following the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Tuesday.

The two countries also reached a consensus on bolstering “strategic communication” among decision-makers to have broader common ground in dealing with the nuclear-armed North.

The commitments came as China rapidly emerges as a key player in ensuring that the Stalinist regime remains stable during the power transition to its untested new leader Kim Jong-un after his father’s death last week.

South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Park Suk-hwan and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun reached the agreement during a meeting in Seoul. The meeting lasted three hours.

“It is very timely and significantly meaningful for the two sides to hold these talks at a time when security on the Korean Peninsula has been in focus since the passing of Kim Jong-il,” Park said in opening remarks.

Maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula is in the “common interest” of both South Korea and China, Park said, adding he hoped the talks would give the two nations a chance to broaden their “consensus on achieving that strategic target.”

In response, Zhang did not comment on the death of Kim, but said that South Korea and China are “on the cusp of a new historic starting point.”

The fourth annual high-level meeting was originally arranged to discuss a wide range of bilateral issues ahead of the 20th anniversary of Seoul-Beijing diplomatic ties, which falls next year. But Kim’s death became the top priority, officials said.

Prior to the talks, the Chinese vice minister met with South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan.

The two reaffirmed the significance of North Korean stability and agreed to work closely together toward it, according to Cho Byung-jae, a foreign ministry spokesman.

“Under the current circumstances, both sides reached a consensus that the most important thing is to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” Cho told reporters. “To that end, the two sides agreed to keep close strategic communication and cooperation.”

The spokesman also said Seoul’s top nuclear envoy Lim Sung-nam will leave for the U.S. today to discuss the long-stalled six-nation dialogue aimed at ending the North’s nuclear weapons program with Glyn Davies, U.S. special representative for North Korean policy. Kim’s death put the brakes on progress to resume the denuclearization dialogue, which has remained dormant since late 2008.

On Monday, Chinese President Hu Jintao met with his Japanese counterpart Yoshihiko Noda in Beijing and discussed how the two countries could work together to “maintain peace and stability” on the peninsula.

The summit was the first between the two countries since North Korea announced its longtime leader’s demise.

Noda told Hu that Japan was relying on China to play a key role in ensuring that Pyongyang remains stable during the leadership change there, according to Xinhua, China’s state news agency.

Xinhua reported that the Japanese prime minister’s visit indicates that stability, both inside North Korea and on the divided peninsula, is also the top priority for China, the North’s greatest ally and biggest trade partner.

The report quoted a Japanese official as saying that Noda told Hu: “It’s important that we not let the death of Kim have a negative impact on peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. Under these circumstance, the role of China, which is the chair country of the six-party talks and has a big influence on North Korea, is extremely important.”