Roh Urges Stepped-up Chinese Efforts in Bringing Pyongyang Back to Talks

President Roh Moo-Hyun, in a summit meeting on Sunday at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow with his Chinese counterpart President Hu Jintao, agreed to work in concert to bring North Korea back to the six-party talks on the earliest date possible.

During the meeting, which began at 4:10 p.m. (9:10 p.m. Korean time) and lasted for an hour, the two leaders shared the view that Pyongyang’s continued insistence on bypassing the talks would incite heightened calls from the international community to sanction the reclusive regime, thereby aggravating the nuclear standoff further still. The two men agreed to push North Korea into making a strategic step to move the stalled dialogue forward.

During the occasion, President Roh reiterated his request for the Chinese to step up their efforts to bring Pyongyang back to the negotiating table.

President Hu reportedly explained to Roh the status of his consultations with North Korea and the United States to resolve the nuclear row.

President Roh had arrived in Moscow on Sunday afternoon to attend the ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of Russia’s victory in World War II, scheduled to be held on Monday.

After attending the function on Monday morning, President Roh is scheduled to meet later in the day for a 20-minute individual session with Russian President Vladmir Putin, followed by a half-hour discussion with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The president is to cap off his trip with a three-day state visit to Uzbekistan that is set to begin on Tuesday.

Jung-Hun Kim jnghn@donga.com