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North Korean leader Kim Jong-il - Source: Reuters -
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Reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-il pledged to remove
nuclear weapons from the peninsula in a meeting with a senior envoy
from China, Xinhua news agency reported from Pyongyang.
The pledge could bode well for prospects the mercurial and
destitute North would end its year-long boycott of international
nuclear disarmament talks, in which it could win aid to prop up its
economy by reducing the military threat it poses to the
region.
China's Xinhua news agency reported that Kim reiterated his
country's persistent stance to realise the denuclearisation of the
Korean peninsula.
Chinese Communist Party international affairs chief Wang Jiarui met
Kim on Monday and conveyed a verbal message from Chinese President
Hu Jintao, North Korea's official KCNA news agency reported without
elaborating.
China, the North's biggest benefactor, is seen as having the most
influence on the reclusive state.
The North has said it could end its nuclear arms programme once
the United States drops what it sees as a hostile policy toward
it.
In another high-profile visit to the country, UN
under-secretary-general for political affairs Lynn Pascoe was
expected to arrive in Pyongyang for a trip aimed at prodding the
North back to the six-way nuclear talks.
Analysts said pressure may be mounting on the North to return to the disarmament-for-aid discussions due to UN sanctions imposed after its nuclear test last year that dealt a severe blow to its economy and a botched currency reform measure that sparked inflation and rare civil unrest.
