SEOUL, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- South Korea and China have agreed to try to dissuade North Korea from conducting any further nuclear tests, a senior Seoul official said Friday.
Upon arriving in a Seoul airport from Beijing, Song Min-soon, President Roh Moo-hyun's chief security adviser, said South Korea and China also agreed that the North's pending nuclear test would "lead to a serious situation."
"South Korea and China shared the view that a North Korean nuclear test should not take place," Song said. The North's nuclear test would bring about much more serious consequences than its missile test, he said, adding that Seoul and Beijing will continue to cooperate in an effort to prevent such a situation.
During his two-day stay in Beijing, Song met with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and other top officials to discuss the North Korean missile and nuclear issues.
His remarks came as a Japanese news agency reported that Japan's surveillance has picked up suspicious vehicle activities at what is believed to be a nuclear test site in the North.
Last week, U.S. television network ABC said North Korea may be preparing an underground nuclear test, saying a U.S. intelligence agency had recently detected "suspicious vehicle movement" at a suspected nuclear test site.
Top U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill is also reportedly planning to visit China in early September to lobby Beijing to put further pressure on North Korea.
