ID :
184507
Thu, 05/26/2011 - 05:45
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/184507
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NORTH KOREA NEWSLETTER NO. 159 (May 26, 2011)
*** TOPIC OF THE WEEK (Part 1)
Kim Jong-il Meets Hu Jintao to Discuss Economic Cooperation, Nuclear Issue
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il held summit talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing on May 25 apparently on boosting economic cooperation and resolving the deadlock over Pyongyang's nuclear programs.
Details of the summit, let alone Kim's itinerary, have not been available as North Korea and China remain almost silent on his trip shrouded, as is typical, in secrecy. The North Korean leader has been visiting his country's closest ally and economic partner since May 20.
But observers said key agenda items for the summit may have included bilateral economic exchange, food aid to the North, Pyongyang's nuclear programs and Kim's power succession plan for his youngest son, Jong-un.
Kim's arrival in Beijing earlier on May 25 came after the reclusive leader toured various industrial facilities, including an auto plant, an electronics producer, a discount store and an IT company in northeastern and central eastern Chinese cities, such as Changchun, Yangzhou and Nanjing, over the past six days.
This is the third summit between Kim and Hu in just over a year after the two held talks in May and August last year. The summit revived expectations that the North might take steps to reform its economy with backing from China.
Sources say that Kim and Hu held in-depth discussions on expanding the North-bound food aid, revitalizing economic cooperation and increasing Chinese firms' investment in the North, among others.
Kim's trip to China appears to indicate the socialist state's growing urgency in securing financial support from its last remaining benefactor to overcome deepening food shortages and international isolation.
They note that a large number of Chinese leaders and ranking officials also attended a welcome dinner for Kim held after the summit talks. Indeed, Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo and Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the Central Committee of China's Communist Party, are known to have closely accompanied Kim on his Chinese trip that began on May 20, displaying deepening friendship between the two allies.
Kim's motorcade entered the Great Hall of the People in Beijing at 5:30 p.m. (local time) and left at 8:45 p.m. for the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, meaning the two leaders spent over three hours together at summit talks and dinner.
Earlier in the day, the 69-year-old Kim arrived at the Beijing guest house after wrapping up a 19-hour ride through China's eastern areas from Nanjing aboard his special train.
In accordance with a long-standing custom, Kim is believed to have already held talks with Premier Wen shortly after his arrival at the Diaoyutai. The North Korean leader is expected to leave for Pyongyang on May 26.
The North has vowed to become a prosperous country by 2012, but it is still struggling to feed its people amid a nuclear standoff with the United States, South Korea and other regional powers.
The nuclear row keeps the U.S. from normalizing ties with the North, which is under U.N. sanctions over its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. That hindered Pyongyang's efforts to attract outside investment, a key to improving the economy.
As Chinese Premier Wen told South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Tokyo on May 22 that Kim's trip is aimed at learning from China's market-oriented reforms, expansion of their bilateral economic relationship and provision of additional economic aid to the poverty-stricken North appeared to be the dominant agenda items at the summit held at the Great Hall of the People.
Among a number of projects under discussion, the two neighbors plan to turn an island in the Yalu River on their border into an industrial complex.
Still, Kim was expected to touch on the sensitive issue of his hereditary power succession plan to try to win endorsement from China, the sources said.
Kim, who inherited power from his late father and North Korean founder, Kim Il-sung, has taken steps to extend his family dynasty into a third generation since he suffered a stroke in 2008.
He named his youngest son, Jong-un, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers' Party and a four-star general last year in the clearest sign yet to make him the next North Korean leader.
The summit came five days after Kim crossed the border and toured major cities in China's northeastern and southeastern areas on what appears to be a study tour of China's vibrant economy.
Hu indirectly urged Kim to open his isolated country during their previous summit held in the northeastern city of Changchun last August.
Kim has so far visited an automaker, IT companies, a solar energy company and a large discount store as well as a top electronics company as he traveled about 5,000 kilometers across China's northeastern and southeastern regions before reaching Beijing.
The 69-year-old leader arrived in the eastern city of Nanjing on May 24 and looked around industrial facilities there on the fifth day of the trip. Kim traveled to Nanjing in a convoy of some 40 cars from Yangzhou and visited an industrial park and a shopping center there, local reports said, quoting unidentified sources.
Yangzhou is the birthplace of former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, who welcomed the late North Korean founder, Kim Il-sung, to the city in 1991. During his visit to a discount store, Kim looked around at daily necessities, including rice and cooking oil, on display on the second floor of the store for about 15 minutes, according to sales clerks there.
After his two separate outings, Kim appeared to have dinner with former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, another source said.
"I understand there was a dinner combined with a performance by the Chinese Jiangsu Province Art Troupe attended by Kim and Jiang," the source said.
Kim's journey started by passing through Tumen, a northeastern Chinese city bordering the North. In northeastern China, Kim traveled to many places.
After setting foot in Heilongjiang Province early on May 20, he toured some "historic sites" in Mudanjiang where his father and late North Korean founder Kim Il-sung had visited and then moved on to Changchun, the capital of Jilin Province, to visit FAW Group, China's second-largest automaker.
Several hours later, however, Kim got back on his special train and spent another night as it passed through Shenyang in China's northeast region and headed south toward eastern China. He next went to Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, after a 30-hour ride.
Like his previous visits to China last year, Kim appeared to focus his attention on attracting more Chinese investment in the North's special economic zone in Rason at the estuary of the Tumen River as well as in the joint development of border towns along the Yalu River.
In 2002, the North designated Sinuiju, a city bordering China, as a special economic zone in an apparent experiment with limited reforms, a year after Kim visited Shanghai and marveled at its economic development. The project, however, fell through after Beijing arrested a Chinese-Dutch governor on charges of bribery and receiving kickbacks.
The two countries have already agreed to such massive projects. However, the Chinese side has not been quick in injecting huge sums into the North to help the latter recover from economic woes.
Kim traveled to China's northeastern regions in an apparent bid to take advantage of an ambitious development project linking Changchun, Jilin and Tumen. China aims to gain access to the Pacific through the North's Rason port. Both countries can benefit from the joint development of the border areas.
China has repeatedly pressed its impoverished ally to follow in its footsteps in embracing the reform that lifted millions of Chinese out of poverty and helped Beijing's rise to the world's second-largest economy.
North Korea appears to be concerned that outside influences associated with reform and openness could undermine its control on its 24 million people and eventually pose a threat to its regime's survival.
North Korea's dependence on China for diplomatic and economic aid has been on the rise amid its isolation from the international community over its nuclear ambitions.
The trade volume between North Korea and China stood at US$3.46 billion in 2010, up from $2.68 billion in 2009, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs.
The North's experiment with limited reforms backfired in recent years, deepening the country's economic woes with no relief in sight anytime soon.
In March, the U.N. food agency appealed for 430,000 tons of food aid to feed 6 million vulnerable North Korean people, a quarter of the country's population.
Robert King, the U.S. envoy for North Korean human rights, is visiting North Korea to assess the North's food situation, a possible indication of the resumption of food aid to the North.
The summit also comes amid no signs of progress to resume long-stalled talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs. The talks involve the two Koreas, the United States, host China, Russia and Japan.
The North has expressed its willingness to rejoin the nuclear talks that it quit in 2009, but Seoul and Washington demand that Pyongyang first demonstrate its denuclearization commitment by action. Seoul also wants Pyongyang to apologize for its two deadly attacks on the South last year that killed a total of 50 South Koreans, mostly soldiers.
Beijing, which has been trying to get the two Koreas to hold nuclear talks and mend ties as the first step in restarting larger-scale negotiations, is largely expected to urge Pyongyang to take up the suggestion upon Kim's visit, analysts say.
Earlier this year, China proposed that the nuclear envoys of the divided Koreas get together to pave the way for a similar meeting between North Korea and the United States and, eventually, the resumption of the six-party talks.
(END)
Kim Jong-il Meets Hu Jintao to Discuss Economic Cooperation, Nuclear Issue
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il held summit talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing on May 25 apparently on boosting economic cooperation and resolving the deadlock over Pyongyang's nuclear programs.
Details of the summit, let alone Kim's itinerary, have not been available as North Korea and China remain almost silent on his trip shrouded, as is typical, in secrecy. The North Korean leader has been visiting his country's closest ally and economic partner since May 20.
But observers said key agenda items for the summit may have included bilateral economic exchange, food aid to the North, Pyongyang's nuclear programs and Kim's power succession plan for his youngest son, Jong-un.
Kim's arrival in Beijing earlier on May 25 came after the reclusive leader toured various industrial facilities, including an auto plant, an electronics producer, a discount store and an IT company in northeastern and central eastern Chinese cities, such as Changchun, Yangzhou and Nanjing, over the past six days.
This is the third summit between Kim and Hu in just over a year after the two held talks in May and August last year. The summit revived expectations that the North might take steps to reform its economy with backing from China.
Sources say that Kim and Hu held in-depth discussions on expanding the North-bound food aid, revitalizing economic cooperation and increasing Chinese firms' investment in the North, among others.
Kim's trip to China appears to indicate the socialist state's growing urgency in securing financial support from its last remaining benefactor to overcome deepening food shortages and international isolation.
They note that a large number of Chinese leaders and ranking officials also attended a welcome dinner for Kim held after the summit talks. Indeed, Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo and Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the Central Committee of China's Communist Party, are known to have closely accompanied Kim on his Chinese trip that began on May 20, displaying deepening friendship between the two allies.
Kim's motorcade entered the Great Hall of the People in Beijing at 5:30 p.m. (local time) and left at 8:45 p.m. for the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, meaning the two leaders spent over three hours together at summit talks and dinner.
Earlier in the day, the 69-year-old Kim arrived at the Beijing guest house after wrapping up a 19-hour ride through China's eastern areas from Nanjing aboard his special train.
In accordance with a long-standing custom, Kim is believed to have already held talks with Premier Wen shortly after his arrival at the Diaoyutai. The North Korean leader is expected to leave for Pyongyang on May 26.
The North has vowed to become a prosperous country by 2012, but it is still struggling to feed its people amid a nuclear standoff with the United States, South Korea and other regional powers.
The nuclear row keeps the U.S. from normalizing ties with the North, which is under U.N. sanctions over its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. That hindered Pyongyang's efforts to attract outside investment, a key to improving the economy.
As Chinese Premier Wen told South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Tokyo on May 22 that Kim's trip is aimed at learning from China's market-oriented reforms, expansion of their bilateral economic relationship and provision of additional economic aid to the poverty-stricken North appeared to be the dominant agenda items at the summit held at the Great Hall of the People.
Among a number of projects under discussion, the two neighbors plan to turn an island in the Yalu River on their border into an industrial complex.
Still, Kim was expected to touch on the sensitive issue of his hereditary power succession plan to try to win endorsement from China, the sources said.
Kim, who inherited power from his late father and North Korean founder, Kim Il-sung, has taken steps to extend his family dynasty into a third generation since he suffered a stroke in 2008.
He named his youngest son, Jong-un, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers' Party and a four-star general last year in the clearest sign yet to make him the next North Korean leader.
The summit came five days after Kim crossed the border and toured major cities in China's northeastern and southeastern areas on what appears to be a study tour of China's vibrant economy.
Hu indirectly urged Kim to open his isolated country during their previous summit held in the northeastern city of Changchun last August.
Kim has so far visited an automaker, IT companies, a solar energy company and a large discount store as well as a top electronics company as he traveled about 5,000 kilometers across China's northeastern and southeastern regions before reaching Beijing.
The 69-year-old leader arrived in the eastern city of Nanjing on May 24 and looked around industrial facilities there on the fifth day of the trip. Kim traveled to Nanjing in a convoy of some 40 cars from Yangzhou and visited an industrial park and a shopping center there, local reports said, quoting unidentified sources.
Yangzhou is the birthplace of former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, who welcomed the late North Korean founder, Kim Il-sung, to the city in 1991. During his visit to a discount store, Kim looked around at daily necessities, including rice and cooking oil, on display on the second floor of the store for about 15 minutes, according to sales clerks there.
After his two separate outings, Kim appeared to have dinner with former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, another source said.
"I understand there was a dinner combined with a performance by the Chinese Jiangsu Province Art Troupe attended by Kim and Jiang," the source said.
Kim's journey started by passing through Tumen, a northeastern Chinese city bordering the North. In northeastern China, Kim traveled to many places.
After setting foot in Heilongjiang Province early on May 20, he toured some "historic sites" in Mudanjiang where his father and late North Korean founder Kim Il-sung had visited and then moved on to Changchun, the capital of Jilin Province, to visit FAW Group, China's second-largest automaker.
Several hours later, however, Kim got back on his special train and spent another night as it passed through Shenyang in China's northeast region and headed south toward eastern China. He next went to Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, after a 30-hour ride.
Like his previous visits to China last year, Kim appeared to focus his attention on attracting more Chinese investment in the North's special economic zone in Rason at the estuary of the Tumen River as well as in the joint development of border towns along the Yalu River.
In 2002, the North designated Sinuiju, a city bordering China, as a special economic zone in an apparent experiment with limited reforms, a year after Kim visited Shanghai and marveled at its economic development. The project, however, fell through after Beijing arrested a Chinese-Dutch governor on charges of bribery and receiving kickbacks.
The two countries have already agreed to such massive projects. However, the Chinese side has not been quick in injecting huge sums into the North to help the latter recover from economic woes.
Kim traveled to China's northeastern regions in an apparent bid to take advantage of an ambitious development project linking Changchun, Jilin and Tumen. China aims to gain access to the Pacific through the North's Rason port. Both countries can benefit from the joint development of the border areas.
China has repeatedly pressed its impoverished ally to follow in its footsteps in embracing the reform that lifted millions of Chinese out of poverty and helped Beijing's rise to the world's second-largest economy.
North Korea appears to be concerned that outside influences associated with reform and openness could undermine its control on its 24 million people and eventually pose a threat to its regime's survival.
North Korea's dependence on China for diplomatic and economic aid has been on the rise amid its isolation from the international community over its nuclear ambitions.
The trade volume between North Korea and China stood at US$3.46 billion in 2010, up from $2.68 billion in 2009, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs.
The North's experiment with limited reforms backfired in recent years, deepening the country's economic woes with no relief in sight anytime soon.
In March, the U.N. food agency appealed for 430,000 tons of food aid to feed 6 million vulnerable North Korean people, a quarter of the country's population.
Robert King, the U.S. envoy for North Korean human rights, is visiting North Korea to assess the North's food situation, a possible indication of the resumption of food aid to the North.
The summit also comes amid no signs of progress to resume long-stalled talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs. The talks involve the two Koreas, the United States, host China, Russia and Japan.
The North has expressed its willingness to rejoin the nuclear talks that it quit in 2009, but Seoul and Washington demand that Pyongyang first demonstrate its denuclearization commitment by action. Seoul also wants Pyongyang to apologize for its two deadly attacks on the South last year that killed a total of 50 South Koreans, mostly soldiers.
Beijing, which has been trying to get the two Koreas to hold nuclear talks and mend ties as the first step in restarting larger-scale negotiations, is largely expected to urge Pyongyang to take up the suggestion upon Kim's visit, analysts say.
Earlier this year, China proposed that the nuclear envoys of the divided Koreas get together to pave the way for a similar meeting between North Korea and the United States and, eventually, the resumption of the six-party talks.
(END)
