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(LEAD) Chinese envoy flies to N. Korea to resume nuclear talks: sources
BEIJING Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- A senior Chinese official left for North Korea Saturday, apparently on a mission to help resume stalled talks on ending the North's nuclear program, informed sources said.
According to the sources, Wang Jiarui, head of the Chinese Communist Party's international department, boarded a North Korean Air Koryo plane heading to Pyongyang around 1 p.m.
During his four-day trip, he 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 nuclear negotiations, also attended by South Korea, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia.
North Korea has boycotted the nuclear talks since late 2008, but the North Korean leader told visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao 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 Saturday, a special envoy of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to North Korea arrived in Seoul and said he would talk with South Korean officials there about ways to resume six-nation talks on ending North Korea's nuclear programs when he visits the communist state next week.
Lynn Pascoe, under-secretary-general of the United Nations for political affairs, stressed his talks in North Korea will include the "entire" range of issues.
A former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, the 66-year-old will take a four-day trip to Pyongyang starting Tuesday.
sam@yna.co.kr
(END)
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