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On Jan. 27, US Secretary of State John Kerry will be visiting China. With the UN Security Council expected to pass a resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea at the end of this month or the beginning of the next, the US appears to be concentrating its energy on a dual strategy of pressuring and persuading China on the sanctions, which cannot be effectively implemented without China’s cooperation.

On Jan. 15, the US State Department officially announced Kerry’s plans to visit China on Jan. 27. This was just one day after the announcement that US Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken would be visiting China from Jan. 20 to Jan. 21 to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue with Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Zhang Yesui.

It is unusual for the US Secretary of State and Deputy Secretary of State - the two most powerful diplomats in the US - to visit a particular country just one week apart. Given that US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping have not even spoken on the phone since North Korea’s fourth nuclear test, the personal visit to China by these two high-ranking officials seems to be aimed at convincing China to take part in tough sanctions against North Korea.

Kerry will be visiting China after attending the World Economic Forum, held in Davos, Switzerland, and stopovers in Vietnam and Laos.

During his visit to China, Kerry is expected to meet with Chinese counterparts including Yang Jiechi, the State Councilor in charge of foreign affairs, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi to coordinate a final plan for sanctions on North Korea at the UN Security Council.

While there is speculation about whether Kerry will see President Xi as well, this possibility seems unlikely, given the current mood in China.

On Jan. 18, Vice Foreign Ministers from the US, South Korea, and Japan convened in Tokyo, where “the three countries agreed to concentrate their diplomatic capabilities on pushing the UN Security Council to quickly adopt a tough and comprehensive resolution,” according to Lim Sung-nam, South Korea’s First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“We look forward to the conclusion of a code of conduct that sets clear, predictable, and binding rules on the South China Sea,” Blinken told the press after the conference was over.

By bringing up the dispute in the South China Sea - an issue that has been at a lull recently and at any rate is not directly connected to North Korea’s nuclear ambitions - Blinken appeared to be suggesting that the conflict could give the US leverage against China.

In related news, the spokesperson of North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement that said that Pyongyang’s offer to stop nuclear tests in exchange for the US stopping its joint military drills and its offer for a peace treaty are both still valid, according to a Jan. 16 report by the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Korean Workers’ Party (KWP).

While North Korea promised in the statement to “take every possible means to acquire nuclear strike and retaliatory capacity,” it also said, “Our first task this year is developing the economy and improving the people’s quality of life. To do that, we will need stable circumstances and a peaceful environment.”

By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent, and Lee Je-hun, staff reporter

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