Very Good News From Beijing! Saw it on television here at the Foreign Affairs University in Beijing--didn't understand a lot, my Chinese is still embryonic after 15 months!
BEIJING (AP) -- China and North Korea agreed "in principle" Thursday to reconvene six-nation talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program, Chinese state television said, reporting on an unusual meeting between a top Chinese official and the North's reclusive leader.
China Central Television said the Beijing leadership expressed to Kim Jong Il that the concerns of both sides in the nuclear standoff -- the United States and North Korea -- should be resolved simultaneously.
State television showed Wu Bangguo, the second-highest Chinese Communist Party leader and head of his country's legislature, meeting with a smiling Kim in Pyongyang. Wu is on a three-day "goodwill" visit to the North at a pivotal time when China is trying to make sure the six-nation summit reconvenes.
"Both sides agreed in principle that the six-way talks should continue," the CCTV anchorwoman said over footage of the two.
"Both China and North Korea support the idea of a peaceful resolution to the North Korean issue through dialogue," the anchorwoman said.
The United States demands that North Korea dismantle its nuclear program immediately. Pyongyang says it will do that only if Washington agrees in writing not to attack the North and resumes the humanitarian aid needed for North Korea's starving population.
A spokesman who answered the phone at the press section of China's Foreign Ministry said he had nothing to add to the CCTV report.
