SEOUL, Jan. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's chief nuclear envoy Lim Sung-nam will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart this week on ways to denuclearize North Korea following the death of the North's leader Kim Jong-il, a Seoul official said Monday.

   Lim headed to Beijing earlier in the day to accompany a three-day state visit by President Lee Myung-bak to China, where Lee was set to hold summit talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao later Monday, the foreign ministry official said.

   "While accompanying President Lee on his state visit, Lim will hold separate talks with his counterpart Wu Dawei in Beijing," the ministry official said on the condition of anonymity.

   It was Lim's second visit to China since the Dec. 17 death of Kim that has raised concerns over the stability in the North's regime and put a brake on diplomatic efforts to revive the stalled six-nation talks on ending the North's nuclear weapons program.

   Following the sudden demise of Kim, his young and inexperienced son, Kim Jong-un, took over the communist regime. Still, doubts persist over whether the new leader, believed to be in his late 20s, can consolidate his grip on power.

   The multilateral talks, which involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the U.S., have been dormant since late 2008, but efforts to get North Korea back to the negotiating table gained some momentum last year.

   Days before Kim died of a heart attack, North Korea and the U.S. held talks in Beijing. Pyongyang had been poised to announce an agreement with Washington to suspend its uranium enrichment program and accept U.N. nuclear monitors in exchange for food aid.

   Such moves by North Korea were preconditions set by South Korea and the U.S. for resuming the six-party talks.

   kdh@yna.co.kr
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