S. Korean President Lee arrives in China, to meet Hu

BEIJING, May 27 Kyodo

South Korean President Lee Myung Bak arrived in Beijing for a four-day state visit Tuesday, China's official media reported.

Lee is scheduled to meet with President Hu Jintao later in the day. In summit talks, Lee will discuss with Hu ways to end North Korea's nuclear programs and expand bilateral economic and trade ties, Lee's chief spokesman Lee Dong Kwan said earlier in Seoul.

Lee will also deliver a speech at Peking University on Thursday and visit the city of Qingdao in China's eastern Shandong Province to meet with South Korean businessmen and tour industrial facilities there.

Lee's visit to China coincides with a meeting in the Chinese capital Tuesday between the top U.S. and North Korean nuclear negotiators.

The meeting could prove to be one of the last steps before Pyongyang submits a list of its nuclear programs as required by a six-way deal.

China and South Korea are parties to the six-way talks on North Korea's denuclearization along with the United States, Japan and Russia.

COPYRIGHT 2008 Kyodo News International, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning