Senior Chinese envoy in North Korea amid chill in ties
The highest- level Chinese envoy to North Korea in two years arrived in the country’s capital on Friday to try to improve relations that have soured over Beijing’s tightening of sanctions and expressions of support for U.S. President Donald Trump’s calls for more pressure on the North to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
Song Tao’s official mission is to brief North Korean officials on the outcome of China’s ruling Communist Party congress held last month. He is visiting as President Xi Jinping’s special envoy, according to Chinese and North Korean state media, but no other details about his itinerary or whether he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have been announced.
After arriving, Song met with Choe Ryong Hae, a vice chairman of the ruling party and one of the most senior leaders after Kim.
The visit is seen as an effort by Song Tao, the head of China’s ruling Communist Party’s International Liaison Department, arrives at Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea.
Xi to explore a new approach in relations and likely also reflects Xi’s desire to head off further pressure from Washington.
China’s relations with North Korea have deteriorated under
Kim, who has ignored Beijing’s calls to end the North’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests and return to disarmament talks.
North Korea staged its sixth nuclear test Sept. 3, detonating what it said was a hydrogen bomb, and most recently launched a ballistic missile on Sept. 15, firing it over the Japanese island of Hokkaido into the Pacific Ocean.
China, North Korea’s largest trading partner, says its influence with Kim’s government is often exaggerated by the U.S. and others. Beijing is opposed to measures that could bring down Kim’s regime and lead to a refugee crisis along its border, and while enforcing harsh new UN sanctions targeting North Korea’s sources of foreign currency it has called for steps to renew dialogue.
The visit comes as Joseph Yun, the U.S. envoy for North Korea, met Friday with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Do-hoon, on the resort island of Jeju in South Korea.
“China, of course, has a big role to play on Northeast Asia security issues,” Yun was quoted by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency as saying, adding that he hopes China “regards the denuclearization as a critical goal. We do hope that special envoy will forward that goal.”