U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg
is expected to visit Beijing as early as later this week to seek China's help in reining in North Korea, which has escalated tensions with a recent artillery attack and its ongoing nuclear program, a diplomatic source said Wednesday.
Steinberg's trip comes after the U.S., South Korea and Japan agreed in a trilateral foreign ministers' meeting Monday that they would not engage in dialogue with North Korea unless Pyongyang stops provocations and shows its
commitment to denuclearization. They also urged China to use its influence on Pyongyang.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said after the talks that she will send "a high-level team to Asia to follow up" on her discussions on
North Korea with South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara.
Steinberg is expected to lead the team, the source said on condition of anonymity.
In Washington on Tuesday, Steinberg reiterated U.S. calls for China to influence Pyongyang to stop its provocations and abide by its
denuclearization commitment. He also virtually dismissed China's proposal for an emergency meeting of chief nuclear envoys to the six-party talks, saying Pyongyang should first show sincerity in denuclearization and discontinuing provocations.
"It is critically important that China continues to play a strong role in making clear to North Korea that there are consequences for its actions," Steinberg told a forum at the Center for American Progress. "China has a
critical role to play. We look forward to working together on ways to demonstrate to all that our partnership is effective in addressing this
critical challenge."
China is considered to have the strongest influence over Pyongyang as the impoverished nation's biggest provider of food and energy aid as well as diplomatic support. But Beijing has been unwilling to comply with demands to pressure the North over concern that instability there could hurt its economic and political interests.
Separately from Steinberg's trip, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell could visit South Korea and Japan next week to talk about the high tension situation and bilateral issues, the source said.
North Korea's Nov. 23 strike on a fishing village killed four people, including two civilians, and wounded 18 others. It was the first time the North has bombarded South Korean soil since the 1950-53 Korean War, though
the sides have fought naval skirmishes and had border gunfights.
The shelling came on the heels of revelations that North Korea is running a facility to enrich uranium, a fissile material, which, if highly enriched, can be used to build atomic bombs. The uranium program gives the North a second way of making nuclear weapons after its existing program using plutonium.