Kim, Xi hail links after historic visit
CHINA: North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have sought to portray strong ties between the long-time allies despite a recent chill, as both countries confirmed Kim’s secret trip to Beijing this week.
The visit highlights Beijing and Pyongyang’s efforts to better position themselves by showing they support each other ahead of Kim’s planned meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and United States President Donald Trump in the coming weeks.
Kim made the unofficial visit to China from Sunday to yesterday at Xi’s invitation, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said, in his first trip to a foreign country since he took power in 2011.
Xi held talks with Kim at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, and he and his wife, Peng Liyuan, hosted a banquet for Kim and his wife, Ri Sol-ju. They also watched an art performance together.
Official reports from both countries depicted in effusive terms warm ties between the two leaders, in an effort to downplay recent tensions in relations over Kim’s development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.
Ties have frayed in recent months as China supported tougher United Nations sanctions against North Korea and suspended imports of coal, iron ore, seafood and textiles. Pyongyang last year seemingly sought to humiliate Beijing by timing some of its missile tests for major global summits in China.
Xi hailed Kim’s visit as embodying the importance with which the North Korean leader regarded ties with China, according to Xinhua. The visit also reminds other countries that Beijing remains one of North Korea’s most important allies and is a player not to be sidelined in denuclearisation talks.
Kim was described by Xinhua as saying that his country wanted to transform ties with South Korea into ‘‘a relationship of reconciliation and cooperation’’. The two Koreas are still technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Kim also said that North Korea was willing to hold a summit with the US, according to Xinhua.
Kim said that the first meeting between the leaders of the two countries would provide a ‘‘groundbreaking milestone’’ in developing mutual relations to ‘‘meet the demands of the new era’’.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim also called for more meetings with Xi and other Chinese officials to deepen the ties between the countries, and also asked Xi to visit North Korea at a time convenient for him, an offer Xi ‘‘gladly accepted’’.
The North’s diplomatic outreach this year follows a tenser 2017, when it conducted its most powerful nuclear test to date and tested three intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to target the US mainland.
China remains North Korea’s only major ally and chief provider of energy, aid and trade.