By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

Seoul and Beijing agreed on Monday to hold the next round of six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear problem as early as possible, confirming Pyongyang’s will to resolve the issue through multilateral dialogue.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, now visiting China, and his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing agreed to step up efforts for a peaceful resolution of the standoff, according to Cho Tae-yong, head of the taskforce at the South Korean foreign ministry dealing exclusively with the North’s nuclear issue.

``There is no change in North Korea’s position that the nuclear issue should be resolved peacefully through the six-party talks,’’ Li was quoted as telling Ban.

Li briefed Ban about the outcome of his three-day visit to Pyongyang last week, Cho said, who attended the foreign ministers’ meeting. Li said North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had agreed to hold the third round of six-party talks in Beijing by June as was agreed upon during the second round talks in February.

According to the top Chinese diplomat, however, the North is sticking to its previous stance that the United States should change its hostile policy toward the North and the agenda of the six-party talks should be focused on U.S. compensation in return for its nuclear freeze.

The U.S. has said it would not accept any offer for reward from Pyongyang in return for freezing its nuclear weapons programs, demanding a complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement (CVID) of its nuclear weapons programs before any compensation.

In the meantime, Ban asked Li to help North Korean defectors come to South Korea in accordance with their wishes and from a humanitarian point of view, according to officials.

Ban in the afternoon paid a courtesy call to Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and had a dinner meeting hosted by Tang Jiaxuan, a state councilor who served as China’s foreign minister in the past.

The visiting South Korean minister will come back to Seoul today, after meeting with Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr