BEIJING, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- China is willing to do all it can to achieve peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, President Hu Jintao told his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak.
Lee arrived in Beijing Monday to discuss North Korea, bilateral trade and other issues. The visit comes as the isolated, nuclear-armed North Korea goes through a leadership transition following the death of Kim Jong Il and the succession of his youngest son Kim Jong Un.
Hu, in talks with Lee, urged all parties concerned to work for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, and assured China would make any effort to help achieve this, China Daily reported.
"China will continue to support the improvement of relations, through dialogue, between the (two Koreas)," he said.
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Lee was quoted as saying it is a shared goal of his country and China to realize the denuclearization of the peninsula, and said he hoped China would continue to play a positive role. China is the main ally and the economic benefactor of the North.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency, quoting a presidential office source, reported Lee told his host Seoul would soon set in motion domestic procedures to allow the start of formal talks with Beijing on a bilateral free trade agreement.
Lee called for a regional dialogue that would meet the conditions for the resumption of long-stalled talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programs, Yonhap reported, quoting Lee's deputy national security adviser.
The six-nation talks have been stalled for three years. Besides the two Koreas and China, others in the talks are the United States, Russia and Japan.
Prior to Kim Jong Il's death, South Korea and the United States had held two rounds of talks with North Korea to resume the nuclear talks. The North wants the talks to resume without preconditions, but South Korea and the United States say Pyongyang must first take concrete steps to show its sincerity, such as shutting down its uranium enrichment plant.
