High envoy makes first DPRK visit since test

Officials on Tuesday confirmed what is believed to be the first visit by a senior Chinese diplomat to Pyongyang since the Democratic People's Republic of Korea conducted a nuclear test in September.

Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin is visiting the DPRK from Monday to Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang confirmed. Liu will co-chair the third meeting of the China-DPRK border joint committee with his DPRK counterpart, Lu told a regular news conference in Beijing.

The Chinese delegation laid flowers at the bronze monuments of late DPRK leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il after arriving, Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency said.