China envoy meets North Korea's Kim

Kim Jong-il

SEOUL - China said yesterday it had sent a special envoy to Pyongyang in an apparent bid to de-escalate tension over North Korea's nuclear test, as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a crisis trip through North Asia.

Beijing said that Tang Jiaxuan, a state councillor and former foreign minister, had delivered a message to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il from the communist state's strongest backer.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said North Korea's October 9 underground nuclear test, which brought world-wide condemnation and UN sanctions, was discussed at the meeting.

He gave no details of the message delivered from President Hu Jintao during the visit of "major significance".

However, a senior US official travelling with Rice to Seoul from Tokyo said the Chinese envoy had gone to North Korea to tell the reclusive communist state not to conduct another test.

"I'm pretty convinced that the Chinese will have a very strong message about future tests," said the official, who asked not to be identified.

Tang arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday with Chinese Vice Foreign Ministers Dai Bingguo and Wu Dawei, who is also China's chief negotiator to long-stalled the six-party talks to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.

The US official said Rice would urge South Korea to fully implement the UN resolution passed last weekend imposing financial and weapons sanctions against North Korea.

But in Beijing, her next stop, spokesman Liu warned against "wilfully" expanding the sanctions. "Sanctions are a signal, not the goal," he told a news conference.

China, the closest Pyongyang has to an ally, backed the UN resolution and has said it will carry out cargo inspections but not searches at sea to intercept arms and related material.

More tests?

Rice began her trip to the region in Japan on Wednesday as intelligence experts said satellites had spotted an increase in activity at a suspected nuclear test site in North Korea.

US and South Korean officials said there was no sign another test was imminent. But a South Korean lawmaker and parliamentary intelligence committee member, Chung Hyung-keun, said the North could be preparing three or four more tests.

"Checking indications coming from intelligence agencies of different countries, it is certain that the North will conduct three or four additional nuclear tests in the future," Chung told SBS radio.

Washington is worried that Japan and South Korea might build up their own weaponry in response to North Korea's nuclear test.

In Japan Rice assured Asian allies that the United States stood ready to protect them, and the official travelling with her to Seoul said she would reaffirm Washington's commitment to defend South Korea in case of attack from the North.

The Korean peninsula was divided after World War Two and fought a war from 1950 to 1953, with the North backed by China and the South by US-led United Nations forces.

As Rice headed to Seoul, North Korea warned the South against cosying up to the United States.

"There is no room within the (unified Korean) nation for such flunkeyist traitors selling off the dignity and sovereignty of the nation, root and all, to outsiders while acting as their puppet," the Communist Party daily Rodong Sinmun said.

In Seoul, Rice will meet South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, recently named as next secretary-general of the United Nations. They will then be joined Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso.

South Korea is planning to tighten its inspection of all cargo heading to North Korea in line with UN sanctions, Yonhap news agency reported, citing unidentified government sources.

It also plans to cut funding to a mountain resort in the North which is open to South Koreans to visit and which the United States says serves as a cash cow for Pyongyang leaders.

- REUTERS