SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- A senior U.N. envoy arrived in North Korea on Tuesday, the world body's highest-level visit to the reclusive state in nearly six years, amid an international push to get it back to the nuclear negotiating table.
North Korea's top nuclear envoy, Kim Kye Gwan, flew to Beijing earlier in the day to discuss nuclear talks with Chinese officials.
The flurry of diplomacy heightened speculation that there could be a breakthrough to jump-start the stalled talks to rid Pyongyang of its nuclear programs.
"This is a sign that the resumption of the six-party talks is imminent," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. "Kim Kye Gwan is expected to tell Chinese officials about North Korea's disarmament plan in a more concrete manner" - probably in return for aid from Beijing, he said.
U.N. political chief B. Lynn Pascoe was greeted by North Korean officials at an airport on the outskirts of the capital Pyongyang, according to footage broadcast by APTN in Pyongyang.
Pascoe said the aim of his visit was to find "ways we can cooperate better," according to the footage. "So it should be quite useful we hope."
Pascoe's trip was the first there by a high-level U.N. official since 2004, according to Seoul's Foreign Ministry. The envoy is reportedly bearing a letter from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The four-day visit came a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il renewed his country's commitment to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula during a meeting with top Chinese Communist Party official Wang Jiarui.
North Korea walked away from the talks last year during a standoff over its nuclear and missile programs. The disarmament process includes the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the United States.
Pyongyang, however, has been reaching out to Washington, Seoul and Beijing in recent months, and has taken tentative steps toward discussing how to get the process going again. Analysts say the about-face shows the regime is feeling the pinch from sanctions taken after its May nuclear test.
"The sincerity of relevant parties to resume the six-party talks is very important," Kim said during a meeting with Wang on Monday, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday from Pyongyang. Kim reiterated his country's "persistent stance to realize the denuclearization" of the peninsula, it said.
Wang delivered to Kim a letter from Chinese President Hu Jintao that said Beijing also was ready to enhance cooperation and work with North Korea to maintain peace and stability on the peninsula, Xinhua said. Hu also invited Kim to visit China, the report said.
Later Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu confirmed Kim's denuclearization pledge, saying the leader "expressed the view that (North Korea) remains in favor of realizing the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."
Ma said he had no information on the North Korean nuclear envoy's reported trip to Beijing.
Repeated calls to the North Korean Embassy in Beijing seeking comment went unanswered Tuesday.
North Korea has made clear it wants U.N. sanctions lifted and a peace treaty with Washington formally ending the 1950-1953 Korean War before it returns to the disarmament talks. Pyongyang cites the U.S. military presence in South Korea as its main reason for building up its nuclear weapons program.
Washington says Pyongyang must come back to the talks first before any discussion about political and economic concessions.
Paik predicted that North Korea and the U.S. would meet soon for "final coordination" to reopen the six-party talks that involve the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
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Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim, Hongkeun Jeon in Seoul, South Korea, and Alexa Olesen in Beijing contributed to this report.
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