South Korean government Wednesday welcomed top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK) Kim Jong Il's recent visit to China.

South Korean Foreign Ministry expressed its hope in a statement issued Wednesday evening that Kim's visit would lead to the resumption of stalled six-party talks aiming to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

"We hope Kim's China visit would provide a good opportunity to make progress toward a peaceful resolution of the North Korean ( DPRK) nuclear issue in the six-party talks," the very brief statement said.

The statement was issued hours after both Chinese and DPRK's media reported Kim's visit to China.

Kim paid an unofficial visit to China from Jan. 10 to 18 at the invitation of Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Chinese president.

Kim also held talks in Beijing with Hu and met with other Chinese officials.

China, the DPRK, the United States, Russia, South Korea and Japan have held five rounds of six-party nuclear talks since August 2003.

The six concerning parties adopted a Joint Statement on Sept. 19, 2005 at the end of the second stage of the fourth round six- party nuclear talks in Beijing, which outlined principals for the resolution of the nuclear issue.

The multilateral negotiations entered a recess in November 2005 when the first phase of the fifth round of the talks concluded in Beijing. And the involving parties have not decided when the talks will resume until now.

Source: Xinhua