China's president going to N. Korea Friday to discuss nuclear talks

BEIJING — President Hu Jintao will visit North Korea later this month amid U.S. pressure for Beijing to do more to persuade its communist ally to stop developing nuclear weapons, China said Friday.

Hu's visit to North Korea on Friday would be the first by a top Chinese leader since 2001.

It comes as China is trying to organize a new round of six-nation talks in November on the North Korea nuclear issue — talks that include the U.S., South Korea, Japan and Russia.

Talks held last month in Beijing ended with a promise by Pyongyang to give up its nuclear programs in exchange for aid and a security guarantee.

But the North also has demanded a nuclear reactor for power generation before it dismantles its atomic projects.

"The nuclear issue will inevitably be on Hu's agenda," said Gong Keyu, a North Korea specialist at the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Studies.

"During the visit, China may, on the one hand, exert pressure on North Korea to give concessions, and on the other hand offer more help in return," Gong said. "Economic aid and North Korean economic reform also will be on the agenda for Hu's visit."

The trip comes amid a burst of diplomacy ahead of the next round of talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who was in the communist country this week, said Friday that North Korea is committed to unconditionally resuming talks on its atomic weapons program and returning to the international nuclear nonproliferation pact.

However, Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, also said North Korea was still running nuclear facilities believed to be at the center of its weapons program and had reprocessed spent nuclear fuel this year into plutonium, a raw material for nuclear bombs.

On Saturday, Richardson briefed South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon on his visit to North Korea, reiterating his view that Pyongyang is willing to seriously discuss dismantling its program.

He said he told Ki-moon that he found the North Koreans displayed a positive attitude and told him they were committed to unconditionally resuming the six-party talks, returning to the international nuclear nonproliferation pact and allowing outside oversight of the country's disarmament.