YONHAP NEWS

(2nd LD) Chinese envoy arrives in N. Korea

BEIJING, Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- A senior Chinese official arrived in North Korea Saturday, the North's media reported, in what many analysts believe is a trip aimed at persuading Pyongyang to rejoin stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.

   Wang Jiarui, head of the Chinese Communist Party's international department, and his delegation arrived in Pyongyang, the North's Korean Central News Agency said in a brief report.

   During the trip which is expected to last four days, Wang is widely expected to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and deliver a message from Chinese President Hu Jintao. The Chinese official visited North Korea and met Kim in January last year as part of a regular exchange of visits.

   Wang's expected meeting with Kim will be closely watched because it may lead to the North's return to the six-nation nuclear negotiations which also involve South Korea, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia.

   North Korea quit the six-party talks in April last year, angered by U.N. Security Council sanction imposed on it over its menacing missile tests.

   But the North Korean leader Kim told visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao later last year that his country may return to the talks following bilateral dialogue with the United States.

   A special U.S. representative for North Korea policy, Stephen Bosworth, visited Pyongyang in December but Pyongyang has yet to declare its return to the six-party talks.

   Also on Saturday, Lynn Pascoe, a special envoy of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, arrived in Seoul en route to North Korea. Lynn, who serves as the U.N. undersecretary general for political affairs, will visit the North next week for discussions on wide-ranging topics expected to include the nuclear issue.

   A former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, the 66-year-old will take a four-day trip to Pyongyang starting Tuesday.

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