BEIJING, Feb 13 Kyodo Chinese Pre...

BEIJING, Feb 13 Kyodo

Chinese President Jiang Zemin uttered hopes Thursday that southerly Korean President-elect Roh Moo Hyun will persist with Seoul's reconciliation policy toward North Korea, the official Xinhua moderns Agency reported.

Jiang reportedly told to leeward Hae Chan, Roh's envoy, in Beijing that China supports southward Korea's efforts to maintain peace in succession the Korean Peninsula.

China has always insisted in succession the ''nonnuclearization'' of the Korean Peninsula, and it will continue to make its be in possession of efforts to resolve the issue, Jiang reportedly said.

Roh has vowed to continue southerly Korean President Kim Dae Jung's ''sunshine policy'' of engagement with North Korea after taking through the reins of power Feb 25

China, a terminate ally of North Korea and its biggest aid donor, has consistently called forward the United States and the North to lay open bilateral talks to elucidate their differences.

Pyongyang and Washington have been lock-uped in an impasse following a U claim last October that North Korea had admitted to running a program to enrich uranium for use in nuclear weapons, in apparent violation of a 1994 pact with Washington.

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