NK foreign minister meets with China counterpart

NORTH Korea’s foreign minister held talks with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing on Tuesday, a week after Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong-un made a surprise trip to China before planned summits with the US and South Korean presidents.

The latest visit, disclosed by China’s foreign ministry, is part of a flurry of diplomacy that has eased regional tensions after months of bellicose rhetoric between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

Photos posted on the ministry’sWeibo social media account showed Foreign Minister Wang Yi and North Korea’s Ri Yong-ho smiling as they shook hands and sitting for talks.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang indicated that Ri’s visit would be short.Wang is scheduled to be in Russia on Wednesday.

“Details on the meeting will be provided in a timely manner,” Geng said.

North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said Ri was heading a government delegation that left on Tuesday for a conference of foreign ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement in Azerbaijan.

Ri will also visit Russia and other former Soviet states.

Kim last week met President Xi Jinping on his first trip abroad since inheriting power from his father Kim Jong-il in December 2011.

China is the North’s only significant ally and trade partner, but ties had cooled since it began enforcing UN sanctions aimed at curbing its neighbour’s nuclear and missile programs.

Kim’s secretive visit was dubbed “unofficial” but bore all the trappings of an official state occasion, with honour guards, bouquets, red carpets and meetings with most of China’s top leaders.

‘Eliminate interference’

Kim is now due to hold a summit with South Korea’s Moon Jae-in on April 27 and a landmark meeting with US President Donald Trump is also planned – events that give both Pyongyang and Beijing new incentives to repair their strained relationship.

Wang struck a note of cau- tion about the diplomatic developments during a press conference with Switzerland’s visiting foreign minister earlier Tuesday.

“Of course, historical experience tells us that when the situation on the [Korean] peninsula eases and peace talks usher in the light of dawn, there are often all types of disturbances,” he said, calling on all parties to “eliminate interference” and continue dialogue.