S. Korea's nuke envoy to visit China over embittered N. Korea

Amid dwindling hope for inter-Korean talks, South Korea's nuclear envoy will fly to China, North Korea's top ally, this week, the foreign ministry said Tuesday, after Pyongyang announced angrily it would no longer deal with Seoul. Wi Sung-lac, who represents South Korea in the stalled six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear arms programs, will meet with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei during his two-day trip that begins on Wednesday, the ministry here said in a statement. North Korea declared last week it would no longer speak to South Korea, accusing Seoul of breaching trust by divulging details of their secret overseas contact aimed at setting up a summit. The denunciation came amid hopes that the North would soon extend an offer to the South for nuclear dialogue between the divided countries that would help restart the six-party talks, which also include the United States, Russia and Japan. The bitter relations between the Koreas are expected to be on Wi's agenda when he travels to Beijing, the ministry said. China, which hosts the six-party talks, had proposed that the two Koreas first hold a dialogue. "The two sides will assess the current situation regarding the North Korean problem and the recent inter-Korean relations and exchange broad opinions on future measures," the ministry said. The planned meeting in Beijing comes as Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, is set to arrive in South Korea on Friday. The senior U.S. diplomat was scheduled to fly out of China later Tuesday to Mongolia. In a related development, the foreign ministry here said Russia's deputy nuclear envoy to the six-party talks will arrive in Seoul on Thursday. It did not say whether Grigory Logvinov would rendezvous with Campbell in Seoul, even though he is set to meet with Wi on Friday before leaving over the weekend. The six-party talks, which seek to denuclearize North Korea through negotiations, have not been held since late 2008.