S. Korea foreign minister to visit China next week

South Korean's foreign minister will visit China next week, Seoul said Tuesday, as it seeks to persuade veto-wielding Beijing to consent to a UN condemnation of North Korea's new nuclear programme.

During the March 28-30 trip, Kim Sung-Hwan will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi and pay a visit to Premier Wen Jiabao, the ministry said in a statement.

The foreign ministers are expected to focus on how to deal with Pyongyang's uranium enrichment programme, as Seoul and Washington want a UN Security Council presidential statement condemning the programme, which was revealed last year.

But the North's ally Beijing has said such a move could aggravate tensions, insisting the issue should be handled within the framework of six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China.

The talks, which aim to obtain the isolated North's denuclearization in return for economic aid and diplomatic gains, have been deadlocked since Pyongyang walked out in April 2009 in protest at UN condemnation of an apparent missile test.

The hardline communist state staged its second nuclear test the following month, sparking tougher UN sanctions.