Beijing to send envoy to North Korea

Beijing, Nov 15: Chi is sending a senior diplomat to North Korea, the media reported on Wednesday, reopening a channel of dialogue with the isolated regime.

The announcement comes a week after US President Dold Trump visited Chi and asked President Xi Jinping to work hard to fix the problem of North Korea’s nuclear programme.

Song Tao, who heads the Communist Party’s Exterl Affairs Department, will leave for North Korea on Friday to “inform” the government there about the recently concluded Communist Party Congress in Beijing, Xinhua news agency reported.

The report did not say if Song would discuss North Korea’s nuclear programme or meet the country’s leader Kim Jong-un.

Nevertheless, it is an important opportunity for Beijing to reopen a channel of dialogue with the North, experts said, as relations between the two countries have deteriorated significantly in recent years.

Chi has an official special envoy to North Korea, Kong Xuanyou, but he is not believed to have visited Pyongyang since taking up the job in August. (IANS)