BEIJING- North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il restated Pyongyang's goal of ridding the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons when he met a visiting senior Chinese envoy, Chinese state media reported Tuesday.

Wang Jiarui, in Pyongyang on an apparent mission to kickstart six-nation talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear drive, met Kim Monday and delivered a message from Chinese President Hu Jintao, Xinhua news agency reported.

Kim "reiterated on Monday the country's persistent stance to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" in the talks with Wang, head of the Communist Party's international department, the report said.

"The sincerity of relevant parties to resume the six-party talks is very important," it quoted Kim as saying, without indicating whether North Korea planned to comes back to the long-stalled talks hosted by China.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon's top political adviser Lynn Pascoe is due in Pyongyang Tuesday to try to press North Korea to resume the disarmament negotiations it abandoned last April, a month before staging its second nuclear test.

The North's reclusive leader also said his country was willing to make efforts with China to further strengthen communication and coordination, the Xinhua report said.

In his letter to Kim, Hu said Beijing was prepared to work with North Korea to maintain peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, Xinhua said.

Hu again extended an invitation to Kim to visit China, it added.

The six-party talks group the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

As conditions for returning to the forum, the North wants Washington to agree to hold formal peace talks and is seeking a lifting of UN sanctions.

Amid the flurry of international diplomacy, Pyongyang on Monday accused Seoul of plotting to topple Kim's regime and warned it had a "secret strike force" to protect the country.