Kim Jong-Il (R)
The United States voiced hope Wednesday that any visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il to China would help lead to a resumption of six-nation talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear program.
South Korea said that the North Korean leader was highly likely to pay a visit to China, the closest economic and political partner of his reclusive regime.
"We hope it's an occasion, if he does in fact go there, that the Chinese can talk to him about the six-party (talks), the concerns that we have about their nuclear program and to urge that they return to talks," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
He said that he had no independent information that Kim was visiting China.
Kim agreed after an October visit to Pyongyang by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to re-enter the six-nation talks, from which it stormed out earlier in the year.
But North Korea has since insisted that the United States first negotiate with it on drafting a peace treaty to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War, which finished with only an armistice.
North Korea had agreed in 2005 and 2007 rounds of the six-nation talks to end its nuclear weapons drive in return for security guarantees and badly needed fuel assistance.
The talks involve China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States.
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