Chinese FM to attend U.N. General Assembly this week

BEIJING, Sept. 22 (Yonhap) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will attend the U.N. General Assembly this week, an official said Monday, with attention focusing on whether he would hold a one-on-one meeting with his North Korean and Japanese counterparts.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong will join the U.N. meeting in New York amid strained political ties with his country's main ideological backer, China, over its nuclear weapons ambition. Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida will also be in New York this week.

China's foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said Wang will lead the Chinese delegation during the U.N. meeting and will explain "China's position on current national situations, important international and regional issues."

Asked whether Wang would hold a bilateral meeting with his North Korean, Japanese and South Korean counterparts on the sidelines of the U.N. meeting, Hua sidestepped the question except to say that "As far as I'm concerned, the agenda is still being arranged."

Ties between Japan and China have also soured because of an increasingly bitter territorial dispute over the East China Sea and Tokyo's unrepentant attitude over its wartime aggression.

There is the possibility that South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se could hold a bilateral meeting with Kishida during the U.N. meeting, Seoul officials said.

kdh@yna.co.kr
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