North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's secret journey to China provided a "positive implication" to talks on settling nuclear issues, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday, according to DPA. Ban, who was visiting UN headquarters in New York, said both Kim and Chinese President Hu Jin-tao should address security in North Asia, which has been threatened by North Korea's nuclear programmes. "The trip has a positive implication to the six-party talks as well as to the exchange and cooperation process between the two parts of Korea," Ban told reporters after meeting UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Ban said Annan called for settling as soon as possible the dispute over the North Korean nuclear programmes.
