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Pyongyang's special envoy makes concession on nuclear disarmament to ease tensions between communist alliesNorth Korea has offered to renew nuclear disarmament talks, Chinese state media have reported.At a meeting on Thursday between vice-marshal Choe Ryong Hae and Liu Yunshan, a senior figure in the Chinese Communist party, North Korea heeded China's wishes after months of rising friction between the allies, according to reportsPynongyang's special envoy praised China's work on behalf of peace and stability and its "great efforts to return [Korean] peninsular issues to the channel of dialogue and negotiation," China Central Television reported. It quoted Choe as saying North Korea "is willing to accept the suggestion of the Chinese side and launch dialogue with all relevant parties".The North's official Korean Central News Agency made no mention of the concession and instead quoted Choe as saying Pyongyang was committed to maintaining friendly ties with Beijing.Choe's fence-mending visit to China is the first high-level, face-to-face contact between the two governments in six months, an unusual gap during which Pyongyang conducted rocket launches and nuclear tests and other sabre-rattling.The moves angered Beijing, which felt its interests in regional stability were not being taken account of. It showed its displeasure by joining with the US to back UN sanctions and cut off dealings with North Korea's Foreign Trade Bank.China's North Korea watchers said Chinese leaders would be unlikely to have accepted Choe's visit without a promise from Pyongyang that it was prepared to return to diplomacy as Beijing has sought."The relationship is rocky so they will try to mend the relationship," said Cui Yingjiu, a retired professor of Korean at Peking University. "Second, they also want to improve relations with the US and need China to be their intermediary."CCTV said Liu, the Communist party's fifth-ranked leader, called at the meeting for "practical steps to alleviate the tense situation" and an early return to six-nation Korean denuclearisation talks involving the US, South Korea, Japan and Russia as well as North Korea and China.Pyongyang sent Choe to Beijing as a special envoy for the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. As such, North Korea watchers said he was expected to hold talks with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. His comments on Thursday will most likely be seen by Beijing as setting the correct tone of deference for such a meeting.Xi was in south-west China's Sichuan province inspecting recovery efforts from last month's earthquake.Awaiting Xi's return, Choe spent part of Thursday touring an industrial park in southern Beijing, accompanied by a Communist party functionary. The Chinese government has in the past used such tours to try to persuade North Korea to adopt China's model of economic reform accompanied by rigid one-party rule.North KoreaChinaNuclear weaponsAsia Pacificguardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds