Nuclear talks
September 27, 2011
China's state television quoted Wen as expressing the hope that six-party talks would resume soon.
In a meeting on Monday marked by unusual pomp and ceremony Choe was accompanied by eight high-level North Korean officials, including vice-premier Ro Tu-Chul.
Wen Jiabao described the talks as beneficial for peace and stability on the peninsula and long-term stability in northeast Asia and spoke of ties with North Korea deepening "in several fields at several levels."
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il said last month during his visits to Russia and China that he was willing to return to the stalled nuclear talks without any preconditions and that he was committed to the aim of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.
China has been pushing its impoverished southern neighbour to resume talks, though Seoul, Washington and Tokyo have demanded that Pyongyang must first show it is serious about denuclearising.
Optimism from North Korea
Wen's North Korean counterpart also gave the meeting a positive spin describing Chinese-North Korean relations as being very good indeed at the present time. Choe went on to describe the talks as historic and spoke of ever closer bilateral ties.
The North Korean Prime Minister, who formerly headed the Pyongyang branch of the ruling communist party, took over at the helm of the government in June 2010. He is said to be close to Kim Jong-Un, son and heir apparent of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il- the leader. Last November Choe visited northeast China and reportedly toured electronics and pharmaceutical companies.
China is North Korea's main source of economic and diplomatic support. Beijing has shored up its support for Pyongyang in the past two years, despite regional tension over North Korea's actions, including nuclear weapons tests in 2006 and 2009 that drew UN sanctions backed by China.
Envoys from the two Koreas met in Beijing last week for their second meeting in two months. The present thaw in the icy relations of recent months comes after bilateral ties on the divided peninsula reached freezing point last year after a military clashes in a coastal border area.
Author: Marina Joarder (dpa, Reuters)
Editor: Grahame Lucas