North Korea foreign minister to visit China

BEIJING, May 23 (Reuters) North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun will visit China next week on the heels of the US negotiator as multilateral efforts to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear programme gather pace.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Paek would meet his Chinese counterpart, Li Zhaoxing, and other leaders during his May 30-June 6 visit and travel to the southern city of Guangzhou.

''They will discuss bilateral relations and major international and regional issues,'' Liu told a regular news briefing.

Christopher Hill, the U.S. envoy to the nuclear talks which group the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, is due in China late on Wednesday and will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei, before travelling to Seoul.

''The six-party talks are now facing quite severe difficulties and it requires all parties to take a flexible and practical approach so they can be resumed,'' Liu said.

The six participants in the nuclear talks agreed in principle last September that Pyongyang would dismantle its nuclear programmes in exchange for aid, security assurances and improved diplomatic ties.

But the last session in November ended without progress and North Korea has refused to take part ever since, citing anger over a US crackdown on what Washington says are illicit financial activities.

REUTERS CH PM1356