Chinese, North Korean Nuclear Envoys Meet in Beijing

China's state-run media say North Korea's top nuclear envoy, Kim Kye Kwan, met with his Chinese counterpart Friday in Beijing. The Xinhua news agency said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei and Kim met for talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear program. Kim was on his way back from the United States after two days of meetings with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill on establishing diplomatic ties.

North Korea agreed in February to dismantle its weapons program in exchange for aid and moves toward full diplomatic relations with Washington.

Japanese and North Korean officials also met in Vietnam this week to discuss normalizing ties, but those talks broke down Thursday. North Korean envoys said they were upset with Japan's insistence that they provide a full accounting of the abduction of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 80s before discussing any other issues.

中国官方媒体说，北韩首席核问题特使金桂冠星期五在北京会见了中方核谈判代表。新华社说，中国外交部副部长武大伟和金桂冠就结束平壤的核项目举行了会谈。金桂冠从美国返回北韩途中在中国停留。金桂冠和美国助理国务卿希尔举行了两天会谈，讨论建立外交关系问题。

北韩2月同意解除核武器项目，以换取援助并迈向与华盛顿建立全面外交关系。

日本和北韩官员这个星期也在越南会晤，讨论关系正常化问题，但是谈判星期四破裂。北韩特使说，日本坚持要求北韩在讨论任何问题之前对上世纪70、80年代绑架日本国民事件做出全面解释，北韩对此不满。