SEOUL, March 24 (UPI) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il held a rare meeting Wednesday with China's foreign minister, Pyongyang media said.
Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, who arrived in Pyongyang Tuesday, is the first foreign minister from China to visit the North in five years.
In the meeting at the North Korean state guesthouse, Li presented greetings from Chinese President Hu Jintao to the North Korean leader, Pyongyang's state-run Korean Central News Agency said. But it did not say what they discussed.
Li toured a Pyongyang street market, laid flowers at a statue of national founder Kim Il Sung and met various North Korean dignitaries in a "warm atmosphere," KCNA said. On Tuesday, Li held "friendly" talks with his North Korean counterpart Paek Nam Sun and other ranking officials, it said.
Li's visit follows six-party talks that included the China, North and South Korea, the United States, Japan and Russia in Beijing last month to seek a resolution to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons drive.
In Seoul, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said Li's Pyongang tour was part of Beijing's shuttle diplomacy to end the nuclear crisis, expressing hopes of China's greater role.
