Senior China Envoy Dispatched to North

BEIJING - Zeng Qinghong, a top Chinese envoy, left for Pyongyang on Tuesday on a goodwill visit, China's Xinhua News Service said Tuesday.

Mr. Zeng, an alternate member of the Communist Party's Politburo, was invited by the North's ruling Workers' Party, the news agency reported.

Beijing sources said that Mr. Zeng, known as President Jiang Zemin's right-hand man, would use the visit to maintain coordination between the two countries amid changes on the Korean Peninsula and changes in the U.S. government.

Mr. Zeng is also expected to map out details of a future visit by President Jiang, sources said. The Chinese president accepted an invitation from the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, early this year. Mr. Kim, an infrequent traveler in the past, made two visits last year to China, his country's closest ally.

"Zeng's visit aims to coordinate the Chinese president's visit to North Korea," said Park Doo-bock, a professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security. Explaining that an agreement had been reached between Beijing and Tokyo that Mr. Jiang should make his North Korea trip before Mr. Kim makes his planned visit to Seoul, the source said that the trip has significant meaning.

A South Korean Foreign Ministry official explained that it is likely that the two countries have had no senior-level exchanges of opinion since the Seoul-Washington summit early this month. He said, "They are likely to discuss new changes since the Washington summit and the cancellation of the inter-Korean cabinet-level talks."

Mr. Zeng is expected to deliver a vital message from his leader, which is likely to include a restatement of China's opposition to the missile-defense system pursued by the United States, and a request to North to do nothing counter-productive, such as firing a missile of its own. Washington has justified its missile shield plans as a way to protect itself from "rogue states," such as North Korea.

Jung Jong-wook, a professor at Ajou University said that China hopes to emphasis their traditional close ties by sending its top envoy to Pyongyang.

by You Sang-chul