Korea, China to beef up efforts to stabilize Korean Peninsula: nuke envoy

South Korea and China shared the view that there should be no situations creating instability on the Korean Peninsula, Seoul’s top nuclear envoy said Friday ahead of North Korea’s possible missile test.

Speculation is growing that North Korea is gearing up for another long-range missile test in the coming weeks ahead of Seoul’s presidential election in December.

“South Korea and China shared the view that they will strengthen their efforts to stabilize the Korean Peninsula,” Lim Sung-nam, Seoul’s chief negotiator to the six-party talks aimed at ending the North’s nuclear ambitions, told Yonhap News Agency.

His remarks came after he returned to Seoul following a two-day visit to China, his first trip to Beijing since Xi Jinping was officially named as the new leader of China earlier this month.

Lim held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei, discussing how to cooperate with each other in responding to Pyongyang’s possible missile launch, according to Seoul officials.

Recent satellite images suggested that the North could test-fire a long-range missile as activities at North Korea’s launch site on its west coast have increased. Experts say that a launch may come in two to three weeks.

In April, the North raised tensions by firing off a long-range rocket, the first missile launch since the start of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s regime, though the move ended in failure.

“China said that it will beef up its strategic partnership with South Korea,” Lim said, adding that Beijing will continue to keep its stance on focusing on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The six-party talks, which bring together the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan, have been stalled since late 2008 following disagreement over an aid-for-denuclearization deal. <The Korea Times>