By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

Senior Chinese officials on Tuesday told North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to be more forthcoming with negotiations with the United States for the peaceful resolution of an international standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear programs, according to diplomatic sources and media reports.

On the second day of his visit to Beijing, Kim met Chinese President Hu Jintao for the second time, after having talks with former President Jiang Zemin and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

Kim, who is on his third secretive trip to China since 2000, is said to have expressed strong skepticism about security assurances the U.S. said it would provide for in return for the North’s renunciation of nuclear programs, diplomatic sources said.

Hu indirectly advised the North to turn around from its hard-line stance toward the United States, saying the latter has little intention to launch military attacks on it, Seoul’s afternoon newspaper Munwha Ilbo said, adding that Wen, the premier who has led China’s capitalist-style economic experiments, advised Kim to make a visit to South Korea to see for himself the economic development there.

Accompanied by some 40 senior party and government officials and other 60 lower-level officials, Kim has reportedly toured such prominent economic sites as Zhongguancun Technology Park, a Beijing high-tech zone dubbed ``China’s Silicon Valley.’’

Kim’s China visit is widely viewed as a multi-purpose tour, seeking practical benefits from its old communist ally, while persuading his own military.

Since taking over power from his late father Kim Il-sung in 1994, the 62-year-old junior Kim has been struggling to revive the impoverished North’s economy.

A special train carrying Kim and his entourage crossed the border into China late on Sunday and traveled overnight to Beijing, according to media reports. His two previously known trips to China since 2000, were confirmed by the two governments only after he had returned home.

Analysts say, in addition to a resolution to its nuclear standoff with the U.S., Pyongyang may be angling for economic and energy aid from its ``big brother’’ China.

But Beijing is under pressure from Washington to step up the pace of diplomacy over the North’s nuclear weapons programs.

During his visit to Asia last week, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney told Chinese leaders that time was running out to resolve this issue. He reportedly presented Beijing with new evidence regarding North Korea’s nuclear capability.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr