SKorean president in Beijing for summit with Xi

BEIJING (AP) ? The South Korean president's visit to China's capital Thursday brought together North Korea's archrival and its biggest ally for meetings that will put Pyongyang under greater pressure to rejoin nuclear disarmament talks.

President Park Geun-hye arrived in Beijing for a four-day visit that marks the first formal discussions between her and the new Chinese administration led by President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.

Park, a self-taught Mandarin speaker, has said she is keen to enlist the Chinese leaders in the drive for new North Korean denuclearization discussions that also would include the U.S., Russia, and Japan.

"I will try to make cooperation between the two countries more substantial and harden Korea-China cooperation for the sake of attaining the goal of North Korea's denuclearization so as to make North Korea come forward for sincere talks," Park was quoted as saying earlier this week by South Korean media.

The China-hosted talks with Pyongyang have been stalled since 2009 over how to verify North Korea is fulfilling its commitments to dismantle its nuclear facilities.

Park was scheduled to meet with Xi later Thursday and with Li on Friday.

Teaming up with China offers some hope for success, with Beijing showing signs of frustration with its neighbor and longstanding communist ally. China was angered by the North's long-range rocket launch late last year and carrying out of a third nuclear test earlier this year, and it has since supported tightening U.N. sanctions, cracked down on North Korean banking activity and urged Pyongyang to return to disarmament talks.

"We hope all sides involved can continue to work toward returning to the six-party talks and make concrete efforts to resolve the relevant issues, achieve denuclearization, preserve peace and stability in the peninsula through dialogue and negotiation within the framework of the six-party talks," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Wednesday.

While China is North Korea's biggest source of diplomatic and economic support, their trade and other interactions dwarf those which China maintains with the South. Ordinary Chinese are also big fans of South Korean pop culture and high-tech wares, and there is a growing sentiment among urban intellectuals that China should not sacrifice international credibility for the sake of coddling Pyongyang.

However, corralling Kim Jong Un's mercurial North Korean regime into new talks will not prove easy.

When the top North Korean negotiator Kim Kye Gwan visited Beijing earlier this month for talks, Chinese analysts said afterward that Pyongyang seemed more interested in improving its damaged ties with China than in swiftly moving toward new six-nation talks.

Park has said that any resumption of talks must be preceded by signs that the North is serious about following through on its disarmament commitments, echoing the position of the U.S. Washington does not want to be drawn into talks that serve only to relieve pressure on Pyongyang, provide it a platform to seek much-needed aid, and buy it more time to further its nuclear weapons program.

While Beijing has remained neutral over recent developments, Chinese scholars say Xi's government will seek an intermediary role to create conditions for a restoration of talks. They warn, however, that Beijing would oppose harsher sanctions or other measures that could spark a backlash from Pyongyang or further destabilize the regime of the young and inexperienced Kim, who took over following his father's death 18 months ago.

"It's very hard to say whether the meeting will produce any new proposals, but, following the third nuclear test, I think China and every other country involved realizes the seriousness of the need to get North Korea back into talks," said Zhang Liangui, a researcher with the ruling Communist Party's main research and training institute in Beijing.

While Pyongyang will be watching Park's Beijing interactions carefully, her visit is a "normal diplomatic activity" and North Korea has "neither the need, nor the right to cast aspersions" about it, Zhang said.

Park's visit should also help smooth over strains in ties between China and South Korea over China's refusal to criticize Pyongyang following the sinking of a South Korean navy ship in early 2010 and shelling of one of its islands by a North Korean artillery unit later that year.

Park's appreciation for Chinese culture should also help foster positive relations. The Beijing stage of her trip, which includes meetings with business groups and a speech to university students, is to be followed by an excursion to the ancient capital of Xi'an, a cultural hub that is also a favorite destination for South Korean investors.

Park is traveling with a record 71-strong business delegation, highlighting the close economic ties that have lifted China above the U.S. as South Korea's top trading partner. Two-way trade hit $215 billion last year, with South Korea's exports of semiconductors, mobile phones, cars and industrial products giving it a trade surplus of more than $50 billion.

Business delegates include leaders of South Korean industry, including the chairmen of Hyundai Motor Group and LG Group.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/skorean-president-beijing-summit-xi-045156659.html

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