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By Gil Yun-hyung, staff reporter and Seong Yeon-cheol, Beijing correspondent

The circumstances of the North Korean issue are developing rapidly. As part of efforts to reduce tensions on the Korean peninsula, South Korea, the US, and China are briskly moving to coordinate their positions through consecutive bilateral meetings.

“Lim Sung-nam, South Korean representative for Korean peninsula peace and security affairs (and South Korea’s chief negotiator to the six-party talks) is visiting Beijing, China, on May 1-2,” the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on May 1. “While there, he will meet with Wu Dawei, China’s special representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs (and Lim’s Chinese counterpart in the six-party talks) to share their assessments of recent affairs on the Korean peninsula and to deliberate about the major issues of North Korea and its nuclear weapons program.”

After arriving at Beijing airport on May 1, Lim told reporters, “I will of course discuss the Kaesong Industrial Complex at the meeting with my Chinese counterpart.”

One week ago on Apr. 24, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, visited China, where he met with Wang Yi, Chinese foreign minister, and Wang Jiarui, head of the International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

From Apr. 22-24, Wu was in Washington, DC, to see a number of US government officials, including Glyn Davies, the US special envoy for North Korea. On May 7, South Korean president Park Geun-hye and US president Barack Obama will hold a summit in Washington.

“The meeting between the South Korean and Chinese foreign ministers dealt with overall issues, and Lim will be picking up the discussions where they left off. He will take part in a more concrete discussion of the affairs on the Korean peninsula, including North Korean nuclear weapons and missiles,” said a diplomatic source. “Wu will explain to Lim the US-Chinese deliberations that took place during his trip to the US.”

“Since stability on the Korean peninsula is important to China, China appears to be placing a high priority on communication with South Korea,” the source said.

The main topic to be discussed by South Korea, the US, and China is the conditions for reopening the six-party talks, which have been suspended since Dec. 2008. On Apr. 12, the US and South Korea said that North Korea must first take measures to abandon its nuclear program as a precondition for reopening the talks.

The joint statement made on Sep. 19, 2005 has also been suggested as a standard for resuming the talks. In that statement, the US promised to normalize diplomatic relations with the North and to provide economic assistance in exchange for the North abandoning its nuclear program. China is also in favor of this standard in principle, sources say.

However, North Korea has already developed its ability to making nuclear weapons over the course of three tests, and it announced on Mar. 30 that it would be adopting a two-track course of developing both its nuclear armament and economy. As a result, it remains uncertain whether North Korea will easily accept these conditions.

Furthermore, North Korea has indicated several times in recent months that it will not take part in talks over denuclearization of North Korea alone. Rather, it has said that it will only consent to talks for peace and nuclear arms reductions in which it is recognized as a nuclear power on equal footing with the US.

As a result, the question of whether the six-party talks will be held sooner or later might depend on the outcome of Wu’s visit to North Korea. But practically speaking, since there is a large difference in stance between North Korea and the other countries in the region, it appears that there are still a substantial number of hurdles to be overcome before the talks can actually resume.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]