A top South Korean diplomat urged China Tuesday to exercise pressure on North Korea to give up its atomic weapons programs, saying international nuclear talks cannot move forward unless Beijing uses its influence over Pyongyang.
"As long as China takes a laid-back attitude about North Korea's denuclearization, it will be difficult to expect progress even if the six-party talks resume," Seoul's Vice Foreign Minister Chun Yung-woo said in a speech at a security forum involving Korean and Chinese experts.
China is considered to have the most leverage over North Korea as Pyongyang's last-remaining major ally and a key provider of food and energy aid. But Beijing has been reluctant to exercise its influence over fears it could destabilize the impoverished neighbour.
"If China firms up its position to put denuclearization ahead of stability in the North and actively takes part in pressuring the North, there still remains the possibility of denuclearization," said Chun, a top non-proliferation expert who once served as Seoul's chief nuclear envoy.
Chun stressed, however, that if Beijing puts more importance on keeping stability in the North, it will not only make denuclearization efforts more difficult, but it will also do harm to the survival of the regime in Pyongyang.
China has long been under criticism for blunting international sanctions imposed on the North for its nuclear and missile tests by providing assistance to the destitute neighbour through the backdoor.
Beijing has also been a key provider of diplomatic support for Pyongyang and tried to block Seoul's efforts to get the U.N. Security Council to adopt a strongly worded condemnation of the North's deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March.
Chun said that the Chinese-hosted six-party nuclear talks should not be a sanctuary for the North and the recalcitrant regime should not be allowed to use the negotiations to buy time to build greater nuclear arsenal.
The diplomat was referring to Pyongyang's practice of using its participation in the on-again-off-again nuclear talks to evade international sanctions and pressure and to win economic concessions for denuclearization pledges on which it later reneged.
The nuclear talks, which involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, have been stalled since the last session in late 2008.
In recent months, Pyongyang has been signalling its willingness to return to the negotiating table. But South Korea and the U.S. have urged the North to prove through action that it is serious about abandoning its nuclear ambitions.