Chinese Premier meets NKorean counterpart

CHINA: Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao met his visiting North Korean counterpart Kim Yong Il Wednesday, with the pair expected to discuss rising tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes.

“I would like to exchange views broadly and deeply on issues of the Sino-North Korean relationship, and issues of common concern,” Wen told Kim in remarks that opened the talks at the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square.

“Your visit has positive significance of promoting the Sino-North Korean relationship and improving the friendship between the peoples of the two countries.”

China expressed concerns Tuesday over North Korea’s planned launch early next month of a communications satellite, which the United States and South Korea have said is more likely a test of a ballistic missile.

In Washington, also on Tuesday, a US general warned that the United States would have no trouble shooting down the North Korean rocket if they considered it to be a ballistic missile fired at America.

“If we felt the North Koreans were going to shoot a ballistic missile at us today, I am comfortable that we would have an effective system that would meet that need,” Air Force General Victor “Gene” Renuart told a congressional hearing. Washington says Pyongyang is testing a long-range ballistic missile that could, in theory, reach Alaska.

North Korea has resisted pressure from the United States and its allies to call off the rocket launch and warned that any attempt to shoot it down would be regarded as an act of war. China has called on all sides to exercise restraint and return to six-party negotiations aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons programmes. North Korea tested an atom bomb in 2006.

Beijing, AFP