BEIJING - China on Thursday urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) to resume their dialogue and improve their relationship as the ROK's chief nuclear negotiator arrived in Beijing.

"We always support reconciliation and cooperation between the DPRK and the ROK," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu at the regular news briefing.

"We hope the two sides can maintain the momentum of dialogue and contact, meet each other halfway and work together to play a constructive role in improving relations and safeguarding peace and stability on the peninsula," he said after the collapse of working-level military talks that were aimed at easing tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang.

According to Ma, visiting ROK Chief Delegate to the Six-Party Talks Wi Sung-lac will meet Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun and Wu Dawei, China's special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs, during his two-day stay in Beijing.

In addition to exchanging views on the DPRK's enriched uranium program, Wi is also expected to brief the Chinese side on the outcome of the failed preliminary inter-Korean military talks.

Wi's China visit comes ahead of a Feb 23 meeting in New York of a UN Security Council committee responsible for overseeing enforcement of UN sanctions against the DPRK.

Seoul has been seeking to bring the issue of the DPRK's recently claimed uranium enrichment program to the UN Security Council, claiming that it runs counter to Pyongyang's international obligations.

Ma on Thursday reaffirmed China's stance of realizing the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and maintaining peace and stability in Northeast Asia through dialogue and negotiations.

"We hope relevant sides will make joint efforts for the resumption of the Six-Party Talks, solve each other's concern through dialogue and negotiation and implement the Sept 19 Joint Statement in a comprehensive way," Ma said.

China Daily

(China Daily 02/11/2011 page2)