ROK's top nuke envoy to visit China

SEOUL -?The Republic?of?Korea's top nuclear envoy will travel to China this week to meet with his Chinese counterpart for talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.

Hwan Joon-kook, Seoul's chief negotiator for the long-stalled six-party talks, will make a three-day visit to Beijing on Thursday to have talks with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei, the ministry said in a statement.

The two nuclear envoys will have a comprehensive discussion on situations on the Korean Peninsula, including the nuclear weapons program of the Democratic People Republic of Korea (DPRK), the ministry said.

Before flying to Beijing, Hwang will make a three-day trip to China's northeastern provinces, which border the DPRK, from Tuesday to hold meetings with Chinese experts on the Korean Peninsula.

The meeting between Hwang and Wu coincides with the US nuclear envoy's visit to Beijing on Thursday. The US State Department said on Friday that Sydney Seiler, Washington's new envoy for the six-party talks over the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, will travel to South Korea, China and Japan this week.

Seiler is scheduled to arrive in Seoul Monday as his first leg of the three-nation tour before flying to Beijing and Tokyo.

The six-party talks, which involve the ROK, the DPRK, China, the United States, Russia and Japan, were initiated in Beijing in August 2003 but have been stalled since December 2008. The DPRK dropped out of the talks in April 2009.

The DPRK has demanded an unconditional resumption of the six-party dialogue, but?the?ROK?and the United States called on Pyongyang to show its sincerity toward the denuclearization.