Roh and Hu to Hold Summit Talks in Beijing

During a state visit to China on Monday, President Roh Moo-hyun will attend a summit meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing to discuss resolution of the dispute over North Korea`s nuclear weapons development, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, and improvement of cooperation between the two nations in economic and trade sectors.

Regarding North Korea`s nuclear ambitions, the South Korean president will convey its thanks to China for the role it played in holding the three-way talks between North Korea, the U.S. and China and request that the Chinese government continue to make efforts in realizing multilateral negotiations.

Right after the talks, the two leaders are scheduled to hold a joint press conference to reconfirm that a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear crisis can be found and stress that the two leaders will establish full partnership in the matter.

However, the two leaders will not likely announce a joint statement after the summit talks.

Meanwhile, during his stay in China, President Roh Moo-hyun will meet Chinese leaders, including Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, and Premier Wen Jiabao.

Jeong-Hun Kim jnghn@donga.com