Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie will visit the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on November 22, 2009.

Senior Colonel Huang Xueping, a ministry spokesman, said Liang will visit the DPRK, Japan and Thailand from November 22 to December 5.

Huang made the announcement while the United States President Barack Obama is on his first trip to the Republic of Korea since taking office in January. He was in China from Sunday to Wednesday.

In Beijing, Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao reaffirmed in a joint statement the importance of continuing the Six-Party Talks process and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

China also welcomed the start of high-level contacts between the U.S. and the DPRK, said the joint statement.

A week ago, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary said Stephen Bosworth, Washington's Special Representative for DPRK Policy, would also visit Pyongyang "in the near future" in an attempt to persuade it to return to the stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.

Cao Gangchuan was the last China defense minister who visited the DPRK. He paid a three-day official goodwill visit in April 2006.

(Chinadaily.com.cn November 19, 2009)