China says North Korea nuclear envoy headed to US

BEIJING, Feb 27 (Reuters) China confirmed today that North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator was en route to the United States for talks with US officials as diplomatic efforts to make good on a breakthrough deal intensify.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan earlier this month agreed at six-party talks in Beijing to shut down the North's main nuclear reactor in return for energy aid.

''Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan today arrived in Beijing and will head for the United States, passing through China, to hold talks with the US side,'' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a news conference.

The US State Department said yesterday that Kim may visit San Francisco to meet non-governmental groups and then go to New York for talks with his US counterpart, Christopher Hill.

Qin said Kim had no plans for meetings with Chinese officials during his stopover and added that China welcomed contact between North Korea and the United States.

''We hope such meetings will be a concrete step to implementing the September 19 joint statement and an important measure to work toward the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula,'' Qin said.

In the September 19, 2005 agreement, North Korea agreed in principle to abandon its nuclear weapons in exchange for aid and security guarantees from the other countries at the six-party talks which brought together the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China.

REUTERS MS BD1528