China for addressing N Korean nukes

Hu told a news conference with visiting South Korean counterpart Roh Moo-hyun that Beijing actively backed diplomacy to halt the North's nuclear ambitions. "But we also think it is important to address North Korea's security concerns," he said.

Meanwhile, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun flew into China on Monday for a summit with President Hu Jintao that Seoul hopes can lead to a breakthrough in a deepening nuclear dispute with communist North Korea.

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Roh's July 7-10 China tour, which follows trips to the United States and Japan, is aimed at enlisting Beijing's help to solve the security crisis pitting isolated Pyongyang against Washington and its allies in Northeast Asia.

"Roh's trip to China should be a golden opportunity for Seoul to seek Beijing's full cooperation in persuading Pyongyang to give up its nuclear ambitions," the English-language Korea Times newspaper said.

Beijing's official China Daily said in a commentary that "both countries need a peaceful and stable Korean peninsula."

The summit between the new leaders of two of Asia's four biggest economies is also expected to cement trade ties that have increased eight-fold to $40 billion in the past decade.

Two-way trade between Seoul and Beijing, which normalized relations in 1992, increased 44 percent in the first five months of this year compared to 2002, according to Chinese statistics.

Underscoring the deepening economic ties that have drawn long-time Pyongyang ally Beijing close to Seoul, Roh's delegation includes Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Yoon Jin-sik and Minister of Information and Communication Chin Dae-je.

China, whose army rescued fellow communist North Korea in the 1950-53 war with US-backed South Korea, keeps the struggling North afloat with oil and food aid and is also the reluctant host to as many as 300,000 refugees from the country.

Seoul, Pyongyang's other major aid benefactor, wants China to use its clout to forge peace on the Korean peninsula.

Seoul also wants Beijing to allow its yuan currency to strengthen, to help maintain Korean competitiveness in the face of a deluge of low-cost products from Chinese firms.

China hosted an initial round of talks between China, North Korea and the United States in April on the nuclear crisis.

No date has been set for another meeting, but Asia's newspapers are full of reports floating formulas for fresh talks. On Sunday, a major Japanese daily reported that Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is exploring the possibility of a visit to North Korea in September, his second in a year.

China has sent senior diplomats to Washington and Moscow this week to discus the North Korean issue. In Beijing, Western diplomats say the Chinese are meeting North Koreans frequently.

The second nuclear dispute involving North Korea in a decade erupted last October when US officials said the North had admitted running a covert atomic arms program. North Korea has since quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, said it had atomic bombs and threatened to start making more nuclear weapons.

Washington has pressed Pyongyang to agree to expand future talks to include South Korea and Japan, but the North wants direct two-way talks with the United States.

Roh meets Hu on Monday evening, and hold talks with other senior Chinese leaders on Tuesday. He completes his first China visit with a tour of Shanghai on Wednesday and Thursday.