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Kim Jong Il believed to have met Hu in Beijing
[Kyodo: Korea] North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was believed to have met with President Hu Jintao and the Chinese leadership over dinner on Wednesday in Beijing.A motorcade believed to be carrying Kim returned to the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse around 10:20 p.m. The motorcade arrived at the Great Hall of the People around 5:30 p.m., raising speculation that Kim would attend a welcoming dinner and hold talks with Hu in the evening. Diplomatic sources said that Kim, on his first visit to China in four years, may hold detailed talks with the Chinese leadership on Thursday. Kim and Hu were expected to discuss the six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear programs, Chinese economic aid to Pyongyang and bilateral trade and investment, analysts said, predicting the talks may lead to a return by Pyongyang to the stalled denuclearization talks in exchange for sizable economic aid from Beijing. The leaders may also touch on the sinking of a South Korean warship in late March, which Seoul suspects was torpedoed by North Korea. Pyongyang has denied any involvement in the incident. China's top nuclear negotiator Wu Dawei has said that China, host of the talks also involving North and South Korea, Japan, Russia and the United States, wants to resume the dialogue by the end of June. But if Pyongyang's involvement in the sinking of the 1,200-ton Cheonan near the western maritime border with North Korea is confirmed, it would be difficult for China to resume the six-way process at an early date. Of the ship's 104 crew members, 40 have been confirmed dead and six remain unaccounted for. Some South Korean media said Kim's third son and possible heir Kim Jong Un is accompanying his father and may be introduced to the Chinese leadership. But diplomatic circles in Beijing question such reports. China is seen as wielding the largest influence on North Korea as it is the largest provider of food and fuel aid to the traditional ally. Some describe the two neighbors as being ''as close as lips and teeth.'' The 68-year-old Kim Jong Il arrived in Beijing by car on Wednesday afternoon after inspecting harbor facilities in Tianjin, southeast of the capital, the same day. It is Kim's first visit to China since January 2006 and fifth since becoming the country's top leader in 1998. Kim arrived in the Chinese border city of Dandong in Liaoning Province by special train early Monday. He moved to Dalian in the province by car the same day, and left there for Tianjin aboard the train on Tuesday evening. Kim's visits to the two port business cities of Dalian and Tianjin en route to Beijing indicate Pyongyang's willingness to prop up the economy through trade and investment in Rason, a special economic zone the North designated as a special municipality in January, and other areas. On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu did not confirm or deny Kim's visit, telling journalists she had no information at present. Kim's trips to China in the past were confirmed only after he had returned to North Korea. North Korea quit the six-party talks in April 2009 in protest at the U.N. Security Council's censure of what the country said was a rocket launch the same month but which was seen as a long-range missile test. In May the same year, Pyongyang fueled tensions by detonating a nuclear device for the second time, a move that resulted in increased U.N. sanctions on the country. North Korea has said it wants U.N. sanctions lifted and talks with the United States on a peace treaty to formally end the 1950-1953 Korean War before it rejoins the six-party talks. Posted by: Fred 2010-05-06 |
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