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China is to send a second special envoy to North Korea in April or May after the Chinese Communist Party's international liaisons head Wang Jiarui met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on Feb. 19 but failed to convince him to return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks.
A government official said Monday U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wanted to convey during her Asian tour that Washington was reaching the limits of its patience. He said China would send another special envoy to Pyongyang once North Korean premier Pak Pong-ju, who will visit China on Tuesday, returns home. The envoy could be Beijing's last try to get North Korea back to talks, he said.
After a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, Rice said Washington was considering other options in the event that North Korea refuses to return to the six-party talks.
Rice seems to have meant referring the issue to the U.N. Security Council and slapping Pyongyang with economic sanctions. This is not the first time the U.S. has referred to "other options" in the matter, but this time the remarks are given weight by coming hard on the heels of Rice's comment that the nuclear standoff cannot "last forever".
A Korean government official said if efforts by vice ministerial-level working group officials up to early March had been the first round, Rice's Asia tour was the second in the latest attempt to bring Pyongyang back to the negotiating table. There will be no third round, he said, and North Korea now has to decide.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reported Monday the U.S. would not hold off on other options like a U.N. Security Council resolution on North Korea beyond the summer.
(Kwon Dae-yeol, dykwon@chosun.com )
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