South Korea named a former senior diplomat to China as its new chief nuclear negotiator, apparently noting the growing importance of Beijing in restarting multinational effort on disarming North Korea.

Lim Sung-nam, formerly minister at the Korean Embassy in China, will officially take the new post beginning Thursday, taking over from his predecessor Wi Sung-lac who served as Seoul’s special representative for peace and security affairs on the peninsula from 2009-2011.

The role of the chief nuclear envoy is important as members of the six-nation dialogue are continuing discussions over when and how to resume the stalled denuclearization talks.

The multinational dialogue, involving the two Koreas, China, Russia, the U.S. and Japan, has been suspended since the last round at the end of 2008 after Pyongyang left the talks claiming other dialogue partners had failed to keep their promise over aid.

North Korea, suffering from deepening financial and diplomatic isolation, has been striving to return to the aid-for-denuclearization table with China as the mediator between other regional powers.

Lim, educated at South Korea’s top Seoul National University and Harvard University in the U.S., joined the Foreign Ministry in 1981.

The 53-year-old senior diplomat has served various posts including special advisor to the foreign minister, director-general at the North Korean nuclear affairs bureau in the ministry and senior coordinator for Seoul-Washington security cooperation.

By Shin Hae-in (hayney@heraldcorp.com)