Senior North Korea envoy visits Beijing after China coal ban - Kyodo

North Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister Ri Kil Song leaves after a meeting with Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Phnom Penh February 4, 2015. REUTERS/Samrang Pring

SEOUL (Reuters) - A senior North Korean diplomat arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for talks in the first such high-level visit since June last year, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported, after China halted coal imports from the impoverished nation under U.N. sanctions.

North Korea's main diplomatic ally said it would ban coal imports about a week after the isolated country this month tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile, for the first time since U.S. President Donald Trump took office.