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China, N. Korea meet over nuclear deadlock
From CNN correspondent Lisa Rose Weaver
BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi has met with North Korea's Foreign Minister Paek Namsun to discuss the nuclear standoff unfolding on the Korean Peninsula. While Beijing declined to say whether they talked about Pyongyang's threat to drop out of the 1953 Armistice which ended the Korean War, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the meeting looked at resolving the current crisis through diplomacy and dialogue. "Both sides had a deep and broad discussion on the nuclear issue in North Korea, and exchanged views on the issue. Each side also said they want to see the issue resolved through peaceful means and through dialogue," said Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue. Although the meeting occurred only hours after Pyongyang's threat to withdraw from the 1953 Armistice, it was not clear if the meeting had been called in reaction to the news. According to the Foreign Ministry, Paek was passing through Beijing en route to a meeting of non-aligned nations in Kuala Lumpur. The North Korean embassy in Beijing would not comment, only confirming the spelling of the minister's name. News of the diplomatic exchange in Beijing contrasted with the belligerent tone of Pyongyang's threat to pull out of the agreement that holds a tenuous peace along the most heavily armed border in the world. Signed July 27, 1953, the armistice established the demilitarized zone between the two countries and ended the fighting, although both sides are still technically at war because the conflict ended without a peace treaty. In the past, aggressive statements from Pyongyang have been accompanied by repetitions of the country's key demands in resolving the nuclear standoff with the United States, namely through dialogue with Washington. While Beijing's announcement of the talks signaled China's eagerness to try to help solve the standoff diplomatically, Beijing has so far resisted U.S. pressure to leverage its aid to North Korea in return for political compliance China supplies impoverished North Korea with nearly 80 percent of its food, commodity and fuel oil needs. China also opposes economic sanctions by the United Nations, saying that doing so would further destabilize North Korea and would be seen by Pyongyang as an act of war. Tensions between Washington and North Korea have heated up in recent months after the United States said Pyongyang admitted in October it was working on a secret nuclear program -- something the North has denied. North Korea has responded by kicking out international inspectors and intensifying its rhetoric against Washington.
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