North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il reaffirmed his pledge to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons and reportedly sent his nuclear envoy to Beijing, amid a diplomatic drive to revive disarmament talks.

In the latest apparent attempt to press the North to restart dialogue, top United Nations official Lynn Pascoe arrived in Pyongyang Tuesday, China's Xinhua news agency reported from the North Korean capital.

Pascoe, the senior political adviser to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, is the first high-level UN official to visit the North since 2004.

Kim was speaking Monday to visiting senior Chinese official Wang Jiarui, who was also trying to coax the North back to the six-nation nuclear disarmament talks which it angrily abandoned last April.

He reiterated "the country's persistent stance to realise the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula," Xinhua said.

"The sincerity of relevant parties to resume the six-party talks is very important," it quoted Kim as saying.

The report did not indicate whether the North is about to end its boycott. Pyongyang's top nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-Gwan flew to Beijing Tuesday along with Wang, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

Analysts said the impoverished North, hit by tougher UN sanctions for its 2009 missile launches and nuclear test, may be seeking a way to return to the talks which group the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the United States.

The discussions will likely resume in March, said Yang Moo-Jin of Seoul's University of North Korean Studies, adding that Kim Kye-Gwan was expected to tell China of leader Kim's view on the timing.

"North Korea desperately wants a breakthrough to revive its worsening economy," Yang told AFP.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said the North told Wang it was "ready to continue consultations with relevant parties" on the nuclear issue.

"We believe all parties should step up efforts, show flexibility, adhere to dialogue and create a favourable atmosphere and conditions for the resumption of six-party talks," Ma said, adding he had no information on Kim Kye-Gwan's reported visit.

As conditions for a return, the North wants Washington to agree to hold formal peace talks and seeks a lifting of the UN sanctions.

In an apparent conciliatory gesture to Washington, Pyongyang Saturday freed a US missionary who had crossed the border from China to publicise rights abuses.

But on Monday it blasted Seoul for allegedly plotting to topple Kim's regime and warned that it has a "secret strike force" to protect the country.

It criticised efforts by the South's military to defend the disputed Yellow Sea border -- where the North fired artillery salvoes late last month -- and complained about the growing scattering of cross-border anti-Kim leaflets.

By alleging external threats, Kim's regime is trying to tighten its grip over society following a failed currency revaluation last November 30, said Kim Yong-Hyun, a professor at Seoul's Dongguk University.

The currency chaos further worsened food shortages in the hardline communist state and sparked rare public unrest and violence, Seoul groups have reported.

"Its economy has not been in good shape since the currency revaluation and it also needs to break the deadlock in six-party talks," Kim told AFP. Otherwise, he said, its rulers knew the country could become unstable.

earlier related report
N.Korea accuses S.Korea of plot amid push for nuclear talks
Seoul (AFP) Feb 8, 2010 - Pyongyang accused Seoul on Monday of plotting to topple its regime as relations again soured, while a top Chinese official met North Korea's leader to bring the country back to nuclear disarmament talks.

In another blow for inter-Korean ties, the two sides failed to agree on restarting a tourism project.

A statement from North Korean security ministries said Seoul's plots against the country had "recently gone beyond the danger line" and Pyongyang had a secret strike force for protection.

The communist North often claims that Seoul's conservative government is plotting against it.

"We have world-level ultra-modern striking force and means for protecting security which have neither yet been mentioned nor opened to the public in total," the ministries said in a statement on official media.

The North criticised efforts by the South's military to defend the disputed Yellow Sea border -- where the North fired artillery salvoes late last month -- and its "reckless" operations to destabilise the North.

It complained about "the daily escalating" scattering of propaganda leaflets by balloon, which were penetrating deep into the country from border areas.

Despite the tough talk, the North has been pushing to revive business projects with the South since it was hit by stricter sanctions for its missile launches and nuclear test last year.

The two sides held talks Monday about a possible resumption of tours which previously earned the cash-strapped state tens of millions of dollars a year.

Seoul suspended the trips after soldiers in July 2008 shot dead a Seoul housewife who strayed into an off-limits military zone at the Mount Kumgang resort in the North.

But spokesman Chun Hae-Sung said Monday's meeting in the North Korean border town of Kaesong ended "without any significant agreement" after Pyongyang rejected Seoul's terms.

Chun said South Korea demanded that its officials conduct an on-site probe into the shooting but "the North Korean side said it has already conducted sufficient investigations".

The South also demanded the North guarantee the safety of future tourists.

About 1.9 million visitors, mainly South Koreans, have visited the Seoul-funded Kumgang resort since it opened in 1998. Over a decade the tours earned the North a total of 487 million dollars.

The head of the Chinese Communist Party's international department, Wang Jiarui, meanwhile met North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said.

KCNA reported that Wang conveyed to Kim "a verbal personal message" from Chinese President Hu Jintao, without elaborating on the content, and that Kim expressed thanks and asked him to convey his regards to Hu.

After a "a cordial and friendly conversation" with Wang, Kim hosted a dinner for the official and other delegates, the report said.

Wang also met communist party official Choe Thae-Bok to reaffirm the countries' friendship and exchange views "on other issues of common concern," Beijing's Xinhua news agency said.

The meetings came one day before Lynn Pascoe, top political adviser to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, was due in Pyongyang for a four-day visit.

China hosts the six-party nuclear talks which its ally North Korea quit last April, a month before staging a second nuclear test.

As conditions for returning to the nuclear forum, the North wants a US agreement to hold formal peace talks and a lifting of UN sanctions.

In an apparent conciliatory gesture to Washington, Pyongyang on Saturday freed a US missionary who had crossed the border last December 25 on a lone campaign to publicise rights abuses.