Ranking officials of North Korea and China on Wednesday held strategic talks on peninsula tension and Pyongyang’s nuclear programs.

The meeting came shortly after Pyongyang proposed high-level talks with Washington and ahead of the first summit between South Korea and China in Beijing next week.

The meeting was held by North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan and his Chinese counterpart Zhang Yesui. Kim’s trip to the Chinese capital is the first since February last year when he met with Glyn Davies, the U.S. chief nuclear negotiator, in the run-up to a now-defunct aid-for-nuclear freeze deal. 

With stability being its top concern in the region, China has been upping pressure on its defiant ally to cease saber-rattling and return to the long-dormant six-nation forum aimed at denuclearizing North Korea.

For Pyongyang, Beijing’s political and economic sponsorship remains critical ― more so given China’s recent support for tighter U.N. sanctions against North Korea and their lackluster joint industrial projects in border regions.

But the talks could hit a snag due to their stark differences over the denuclearization issue.

At their first meeting earlier this month, Presidents Xi Jinping and Barack Obama reaffirmed the commitment to the denuclearization of the peninsula, which may well top the agenda for Xi’s summit with President Park Geun-hye at the end of this month.

Beijing has also cut off dealings with Pyongyang’s Foreign Trade Bank accused by Washington of being “directly tied to” nuclear activities.

North Korea, in contrast, codified its atomic-armed status last year and said early this year that nuclear development was one of the top national priorities and thus no longer up for negotiation.

In an apparent attempt at reconciliation, Pyongyang last Sunday called denuclearization a “precept” of its two late autocrats and offered Washington talks to discuss Obama’s drive for a nuclear-free world.

But the overture was met with demands that Pyongyang prove sincerity toward dialogue with action.

“Though North Korea has recently talked about denuclearization, what’s important is substantive denuclearization, not the resumption of dialogue,” said Cho Tae-yong, Seoul’s special representative for Korean Peninsular peace and security affairs, as he arrived in Washington.

His three-day stay is for talks with the chief nuclear negotiators from Washington and Tokyo to step up policy coordination and cooperation. They are Davies, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, and Shinsuke Sugiyama, director-general of Japan’s Asian and Oceanian affairs.

On the way back, Cho is scheduled to stop at Beijing to meet with officials including Wu Dawei, China’s special representative for Korean peninsular affairs.

“The trilateral consultations have taken place all the while, during which they fine-tuned their views. Given various activities surrounding North Korea, I think they are in the right circumstances to meet,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young told reporters on Tuesday.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)