Senior Chinese Officials to Visit Pyongyang

Wang Yi, Chinese vice-foreign minister who headed the Chinese team during six-way talks in Beijing, will visit Pyongyang late this month, according to diplomatic sources in Seoul. He will accompany China`s parliament chief and communist party number two Wu Bangguo.

A diplomatic source in Seoul was quoted as saying ˝Wu would fly to Pyongyang late this month for talks on North Korea`s nuclear weapons ambitions, although the date has yet to be fixed.˝

Given China` role in six-way talks held in Beijing, the two top Chinese officials are expected to discuss the timetable for next talks. China has played a crucial role mediating in the standoff and hosted six-way talks in Beijing.

Wang and Wu, in fact, visited Seoul for three days from Aug. 2 through 4 to discuss where and when to have the first round of six-way talks before visiting Pyongyang from Aug. 7 through 9 to set the venue and timetable for the talks.

Young-Sik Kim spear@donga.com