N. Korean envoy mends fences with China visit

BEIJING -- A top North Korean envoy delivered a letter from leader Kim Jong Un to Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday and told him Pyongyang would take steps to rejoin stalled nuclear disarmament talks. The move marked an apparent victory for Beijing's efforts to coax its unruly ally into lowering tensions.

North Korean Vice Marshal Choe Ryong Hae's three-day visit was seen as a fence-mending effort after Pyongyang angered Beijing with snubs and moves to develop its nuclear program.

The official China News Service said Choe delivered the handwritten letter from Kim at an afternoon meeting in Beijing. It gave no details about the contents.

Earlier yesterday, a top Chinese general told Choe that Beijing wanted a peaceful, denuclearized Korean Peninsula, in a reiteration of China's position that could also be seen as a rebuke to the North. -- AP