BEIJING, Mar 15 (AP) -- North Korea's premier will visit China later this month, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday, amid increased efforts to restart stalled talks on the regime's nuclear ambitions.

Pak Pong Ju's trip will take place between March 22-27, ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said, calling it "another important effort to promote bilateral ties."

"The nuclear issue of the Korean peninsula will definitely be talked about," Liu said at a regular briefing.

He did not give any other details about who Pak would meet or what would be discussed.

China is North Korea's last major ally and an indispensable source of fuel and trade for the impoverished region.

The nuclear dispute flared in 2002, when the United States said that Pyongyang admitted operating a secret nuclear program in violation of a 1994 agreement that gave it oil and other aid in exchange for abandoning nuclear work.

Since then, three rounds of six-nation disarmament talks have been held in Beijing with no progress. The fourth round was to be held in September but the North refused to participate.

International alarm was heightened Feb. 10, when the North announced that it has nuclear weapons and will boycott any further talks aimed at ending its nuclear ambitions.

Wang Jiarui, a senior Chinese Communist Party leader, met with the North's reclusive leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang days later to discuss bringing North Korea back to the discussion table, part of a flurry of diplomatic exchanges that have taken place since the North's announcement.

Last week, Ning Fukui, China's envoy to the talks, headed to Washington for discussions.

Pyongyang is believed to be seeking concessions in return for rejoining the talks, which also include the United States, South Korea, Russia and Japan.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was scheduled to visit Beijing this week. Liu said he did not have any details on who she will meet or what will be discussed.