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SEOUL: Chinese President Hu Jintao has formally invited North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il to visit Beijing, state media reported on Thursday, amid efforts to bring Pyongyang back to nuclear disarmament talks.
Hu extended the invitation for a visit "at a convenient time" during a meeting on Wednesday with Choe Thae-Bok, a visiting secretary of the North's ruling Workers' Party, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
Choe, a close confidant of Kim, is leading a party delegation to Beijing amid a flurry of diplomacy to celebrate 60 years of ties between the two countries.
Kim, who is known to dislike foreign trips due to security concerns, had last visited China in 2006.
KCNA quoted the Chinese leader as saying Beijing is "ready to strive with the Korean comrades to put the relations of friendship between the two countries on a new stage."
Choe's trip is the latest in a series of high-profile visits between the two sides in recent months.
During a visit by Premier Wen Jiabao to Pyongyang early this month, Kim said his country is ready to return to six-nation denuclearisation talks, but only if it first has direct negotiations with the United States.
Washington said it would agree to bilateral talks within the framework of the six-party forum, but the goal must be a complete end to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons drive.
The six-party forum, which North Korea abandoned in April, is chaired by China and includes the two Koreas, Japan, Russia and the United States.
- AFP/sc
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