Chinese-S. Korean Summit Aims to Shore Up Nuclear Deal

In South Korea immediately after the end of the Beijing Olympics, Chinese President Hu Jintao and his South Korean counterpart, President Lee Myung-bak, reaffirmed their mutual support for achieving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through the Six-Party talks.

The joint statement issued at the end of the two-day summit underscored their shared commitment to promoting Korea's denuclearization and improving relations between the two Korean states. "The South Korean side expressed its position to push for co-existence and co-prosperity (with North Korea) through inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation," the declaration read. "The Chinese side reaffirmed its support that South and North Korea would improve bilateral ties through reconciliation and cooperation and eventually realize peaceful unification."

While Hu was in the Republic of Korea (ROK), the North Korean government publicized that it had suspended its denuclearization activities, and might resume its nuclear program if the United States does not commit to its rapid removal from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. American and North Korean officials have yet to agree on how to verify Pyongyang's June 2008 declaration detailing its past nuclear activities.