N. Korea, China display solidarity at military parade

BEIJING, Oct. 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea and its treaty ally, China, displayed a show of solidarity on Saturday as a top Chinese official attended a huge military parade in Pyongyang, standing on the left-hand side of the North's young leader, Kim Jong-un. Liu Yunshan, who ranks fifth in the Chinese Communist Party hierarchy, was the only foreign guest who stood on the podium at Kim Il Sung Square in the heart of Pyongyang, where the military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the North's Workers' Party was being staged. Live TV footage showed Kim smiling several times when he spoke with Liu through an interpreter during the military parade. The alliance between North Korea and China was "forged in blood" as China sent its troops during the 1950-53 Korean War. In recent years, political ties between the allies remain strained, particularly after North Korea defiantly conducted its third nuclear test in 2013. Liu, the highest Chinese official to visit North Korea since Kim took power in late 2011, held talks with the young leader on Friday. During the meeting, Liu told Kim that China is willing to work with North Korea to resume the long-stalled nuclear talks at an early date, China's state-run media reported. While Kim made no mention of North Korea's nuclear weapons program, both Kim and Liu expressed their willingness to improve bilateral ties. Kim also told Liu that North Korea needs a "peaceful and stable external environment" as it seeks to develop its moribund economy. In a rare speech at the Saturday parade, Kim did not mention the country's nuclear and missile capabilities, although he said North Korea is ready to respond to "any kind of war" waged by the United States. South Korea and the U.S. have called for China to exert more pressure to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear program, but Beijing's stance over North Korea has often been self-contradictory. Many analysts believe that the Chinese Communist Party leadership won't put enough pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions because a sudden collapse of the North's regime could threaten China's own security interests. North Korea has shown no signs of giving its nuclear program and diplomatic efforts to resume the six-party talks have failed to produce tangible results for years. The visit by Liu to North Korea will be scrutinized by analysts for any signs of improvement in political ties between North Korea and China. Chang Yong-seok, a researcher at the Seoul National University Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, said North Korea and China are unlikely to find a common ground in resolving the North's nuclear issue anytime soon. However, Chang said, "North Korea is expected to make efforts to prevent its relations with China from undermining further by dealing with the issue of denuclearization within the agenda of peace on the Korean Peninsula." Also on Saturday, Liu met with North Korea's ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-nam, China's Xinhua news agency reported in a dispatch from Pyongyang. Liu repeated China's willingness to "maintain high-level exchanges and political communication, and promote economic and trade cooperation" with North Korea, the report said. kdh@yna.co.kr (END)