BEIJING -- On a visit to repair ties with China and waiting to meet its leader, a North Korean envoy Thursday paid deference to its chief ally's hopes for renewed multinational nuclear talks.
Choe Ryong Hae, at a meeting with Communist Party official Liu Yunshan, praised China's work on behalf of peace and stability and its "great efforts to return (Korean) peninsular issues to the channel of dialogue and negotiation."
North Korea "is willing to accept the suggestion of the Chinese side and launch dialogue with all relevant parties," Choe was quoted as saying by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
While Choe's remarks were vague and offered no hint of hoped-for concessions, they served as a public show of respect after a half-year of rising frustration in Beijing at Pyongyang and its recent rocket and nuclear tests and other saber-rattling.
Diplomatic snubs and this month's seizure of a Chinese fishing crew, who were allegedly held for ransom by a North Korean military unit, have further soured the mood in Beijing and among the Chinese public.
A vice marshal in the North Korean military, Choe was sent to Beijing on Wednesday on a fence-mending visit as a special envoy for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
As such, North Korea watchers say he is expected to hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. His comments Thursday will likely be seen by Beijing as setting the correct atmosphere of deference for such a meeting.
Xi was in southwest China's Sichuan province on Thursday overseeing earthquake recovery efforts and it wasn't clear when he planned to return to the capital.
Choe also spent part of Thursday touring an industrial park in the southern part of the Beijing, accompanied by a Communist Party functionary. China has long sought to convince the North to adopt its model of economic reform accompanied by rigid one-party rule. Reported by Huffington Post 10 hours ago.
Choe Ryong Hae, at a meeting with Communist Party official Liu Yunshan, praised China's work on behalf of peace and stability and its "great efforts to return (Korean) peninsular issues to the channel of dialogue and negotiation."
North Korea "is willing to accept the suggestion of the Chinese side and launch dialogue with all relevant parties," Choe was quoted as saying by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
While Choe's remarks were vague and offered no hint of hoped-for concessions, they served as a public show of respect after a half-year of rising frustration in Beijing at Pyongyang and its recent rocket and nuclear tests and other saber-rattling.
Diplomatic snubs and this month's seizure of a Chinese fishing crew, who were allegedly held for ransom by a North Korean military unit, have further soured the mood in Beijing and among the Chinese public.
A vice marshal in the North Korean military, Choe was sent to Beijing on Wednesday on a fence-mending visit as a special envoy for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
As such, North Korea watchers say he is expected to hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. His comments Thursday will likely be seen by Beijing as setting the correct atmosphere of deference for such a meeting.
Xi was in southwest China's Sichuan province on Thursday overseeing earthquake recovery efforts and it wasn't clear when he planned to return to the capital.
Choe also spent part of Thursday touring an industrial park in the southern part of the Beijing, accompanied by a Communist Party functionary. China has long sought to convince the North to adopt its model of economic reform accompanied by rigid one-party rule. Reported by Huffington Post 10 hours ago.