Seoul considers sending envoy to Beijing over Cheonan

The government is considering sending a senior diplomat to China to persuade the ally of North Korea to support Seoul's call to punish Pyongyang for its alleged

torpedo attack against a South Korean warship in March, sources said Sunday.

The move comes amid growing doubts about the effectiveness of Seoul's referring the sinking of its 1,200-ton frigate Cheonan to the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) Friday as veto-wielding China appears to be opposed to a coordinated global action against its impoverished neighbor.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan even admitted last week that China considers the Cheonan incident a domestic issue that needs to be resolved by the two Koreas and the nature of the maritime disaster makes it difficult for Seoul to convince the international community to take action.

As the government fears its pledge to get even with the North over the incident may become empty rhetoric, it is considering dispatching a senior envoy to Beijing to convince Chinese officials on the need for the UNSC to draw up punitive measures against the North's terrorist act.

"South Korea is mulling sending a ranking official to directly talk to concerned

officials, on top of indirectly persuading China on the matter in the process of UNSC meetings," a diplomatic source told Yonhap News Agency.

Another official also said that "if necessary, Seoul may send officials to Beijing to directly persuade China."

Once such a decision is made, a deputy minister-level diplomat will likely be picked for the mission, according to sources. Seoul is also considering sending experts, who carried out the investigation into the cause of the ship sinking,

to the United Nations headquarters in New York, so that they can brief UNSC members on their findings.

"The government may send the experts to persuade UNSC member countries," a

government official said on condition of anonymity. "However, South Korea will

provide them only when UNSC members make such a request, as we cannot send

them without receiving their consent."

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Unification has asked South Korean companies trading

with North Korean firms not to wire money to the communist country in an effort to curb the foreign currency flow into the reclusive regime.

"The government has requested Korean firms working with North Korean companies to postpone payments until the government decides on its position over the Cheonan incident," a ministry official said.

Seoul is expected to determine the fate of the inter-Korean industrial park in the

border town of North Korea "at some point," depending on the communist regime's attitude toward the troubled facilities.

"There will be a judgment at some point on whether the Gaeseong Industrial

Complex can be maintained or not," another ministry official said on condition of

anonymity.

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