South Korean nuclear negotiator to visit China this week
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-30 14:37

South Korea's chief negotiator at international talks on North Korea's nuclear programs will visit China this week for consultations on how to advance the negotiations, Seoul's foreign minister said Wednesday.

Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon will visit Beijing on Friday and Saturday for talks with his Chinese counterpart, Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said.

The two will "assess the current situation" and discuss "ways to move the negotiations forward," Ban told a news briefing.

The nuclear talks _ launched in 2003 _ involve China, the United States, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia. Their fifth and latest session took a recess earlier this month with no signs of progress on how the North would disarm and what it would get in return.

No date has been set for when the talks will resume.