China has expressed its support for inter-Korean talks in order to create favorable conditions for resuming the six-party denuclearization talks with North Korea.

A senior South Korean government official said China has acknowledged the necessity and importance of talks between the two Koreas during a meeting between South Korea’s top nuclear envoy Wi Sung-lac and his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei held Thursday in Beijing, China.

However, the official said that China also appears to be taking into consideration that North Korea has said it would put a halt to inter-Korean talks. According to the official, China’s basic stance is that it wants the inter-Korean talks to succeed and the six-party talks to resume.

Additionally, the official said that China did not seem to have known or predicted that North Korea would reveal the secret contact between South and North Korea. Also, during the North Korea-China summit, the North did not have a negative response to the mention of inter-Korean talks.