MOSCOW, November 10 (RIA Novosti) — Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Park Geun-hye agreed Monday to combine efforts to compel North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, South Korean senior presidential foreign affairs secretary Ju Chul-ki said.
According to Ju Chul-ki as reported by Yonhap news agency, the two leaders “agreed to hold consultations to resume dialogue meant to produce progress to denuclearize North Korea and stop Pyongyang from advancing its nuclear capability,” during their meeting on the sidelines of the of the APEC summit in Beijing.
North Korea declared itself a nuclear power in 2005 and conducted a series of underground nuclear weapon tests in the following years. Pyongyang’s nuclear program has triggered multiple protests from the international community.
The last six-party talks comprising North and South Korea, Russia, the United States, China and Japan on Pyongyang's nuclear program were held in December 2008. The negotiations stalled with two more nuclear tests held by North Korea since then.
The two Koreas are formally in a state of war, as no peace treaty was ever signed following the Korean War of 1950-1953. In mid-October, South and North Korea concluded their first high-level military talks in seven years, although no major agreements have been reached.
