BEIJING – China has confirmed that North Korea leader Kim Jong Un visited Beijing to hold the meeting with President Xi Jinping and committed to denuclearise the Korean peninsula.
Ending speculations over the visit, the Chinese media reported that chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) and chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) had been in China from Sunday to Wednesday on an unofficial visit, which is his first known foreign trip since taking office in 2011.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/world/kim-jong-un-mysteriously-dashes-to-china-on-armoured-train-report/
According to Xinhua News, both leaders held “successful talks,” which came at a special time and was of great significance as Kim is due to meet US President Donald Trump in May and South Korea’s Moon Jae-in April.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/world/donald-trump-agrees-to-meet-north-koreas-kim-jong-un/
The North Korean leader told Xi that situation on the Korean Peninsula is starting to get better after the DPRK took steps to defuse tension and sent proposals for peace talks.
Kim also assured Chinese counterpart that his country was committed to giving up his weapons. He said, ” It is our consistent stand to be committed to denuclearization on the peninsula”.
He went on to say, “The issue of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula can be resolved, if south Korea and the United States respond to our efforts with goodwill, create an atmosphere of peace and stability while taking progressive and synchronous measures for the realization of peace”.
North Korea’s KCNA news agency termed the visit “a milestone” in improving bilateral relations with China, adding that Xi had accepted an invitation to return the visit.
Xi in his remarks said Kim’s current visit to Bejing fully embodied the great significance that Comrade Chairman and the WPK Central Committee have attached to the relations between the two countries and the two parties. He added friendship of both nations should be passed on continuously and developed better.
“We speak highly of this visit,” Xi told Kim.
“This is a strategic choice and the only right choice both sides have made based on history and reality, the international and regional structure and the general situation of China-DPRK ties. This should not and will not change because of any single event at a particular time,” Xi said.
On the Korean Peninsula issue, the Chinese president said that China wanted sticks to the goal of denuclearization of the peninsula, safeguarding peace and stability on the peninsula and solving issues through talks.
North Korean-China Relationship
Although China is a traditional ally of North Korea – with both a signatory of mutual defense treaty – however, the ties became strained since Kim purged several top-ranking officials close to Beijing, including his uncle, Jang Song Thaek.
The relations between the two countries became frayed in 2017 after a spree of missile tests, which irked China’s leaders and resulted in multiple rounds of United Nations sanctions targeting North Korea.
With the dawn of 2018, the ties improved largely because of North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang last month.
Another announcement that followed Olympics was Kim’s agreement to meet South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in in April and a planned summit with Trump by May.
