SEOUL-- South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, Noh Kyu-duk, spoke by phone with his Chinese counterpart Wednesday and asked for Beijing to play a role in efforts to bring North Korea back to the nuclear dialogue, the foreign ministry said.

Noh's first phone call with Liu Xiaoming, China's new special representative on Korean Peninsula affairs, came after U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim's visit to Seoul this week for talks with South Korean and Japanese counterparts to discuss ways to resume diplomacy with Pyongyang.

Noh and Liu "discussed joint efforts between South Korea and China to advance the process toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and building permanent peace in the region," the ministry said in a release.

Liu reaffirmed China's commitment to such cooperation through a constructive role, the ministry said.

Liu, former Chinese ambassador to Britain, was appointed as Beijing's new envoy for the North in April.

Source: Yonhap News Agency