South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang says Beijing believes Pyongyang is still willing to communicate with Washington over its denuclearization. 

Speaker Moon made the remark in a meeting with South Korean reporters in Beijing on Wednesday after holding talks with Chinese political leaders, including Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee. 

When asked about the North’s latest test-firing of projectiles, Moon said China withheld opinion on whether they were short-range missiles but assessed it was not a signal that Pyongyang was done talking with Washington.

Moon said during his meeting with Li that he urged Beijing to act as a facilitator for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, noting China is trusted by North Korea as well as South Korea and the U.S.

According to ruling Democratic Party lawmaker Park Byeong-seug, who accompanied the speaker to China, both Li and Yang Jiechi, a member of the politburo of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee who also met with Moon, responded very positively to requests to cooperate on improving inter-Korean relations.