NKorean delegation to visit 3 countries in Asia

SEOUL: A North Korean ruling party delegation traveling to China, Vietnam and Laos has arrived in Beijing, Pyongyang’s state media said Friday.

The delegation, led by alternate politburo member Kim Song Nam, was welcomed by a representative of the Chinese Communist Party at the airport on Thursday, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, without specifying the exact nature of the trip.

An earlier KCNA report said the delegation would be traveling on to Vietnam and Laos, also without disclosing the purpose of the trip.

According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, Kim is regarded as a “China expert” in Pyongyang and served as an interpreter for late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

Beijing’s state news agency Xinhua reported that the delegation met Thursday with Wang Huning, chairman of China’s top political consultative body.

China is North Korea’s biggest economic benefactor and a traditional ally, and current leader Kim Jong Un has sought to shore up relations with Beijing while intensifying his aggressive rhetoric toward Seoul.

In January, Kim said Pyongyang and Beijing had designated 2024 as the “year of DPRK-China friendship,” using the acronym for the North’s official name.

Noting the significance of the year, Xinhua said Wang had expressed on Thursday China’s willingness to work toward “concrete actions advancing the friendship between the two sides, deepen collaboration, strengthen strategic communication, and jointly work for a peaceful and stable external environment.”

Experts have said that North Korea appears to be resuming diplomatic activities following years of self-imposed Covid-19 border shutdowns, and earlier this month it dispatched a rare delegation led by Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong Ho to Mongolia.

North Korea also maintains relatively close ties with Laos and Vietnam.

Leader Kim held a historic, but ultimately unsuccessful, summit with former US president Donald Trump in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi in 2019.

On Friday, KCNA said Kim had sent a flower basket to Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith to mark the 69th founding anniversary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party.

In 2013, Laos was widely criticized for repatriating nine North Korean refugees, then ages 15 to 19, despite pleas by Seoul and the UN citing concerns for their safety upon return to their repressive homeland.