ID :
185980
Thu, 06/02/2011 - 07:21
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/185980
The shortlink copeid
TOPIC OF THE WEEK
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il returned home on May 27 after concluding a week-long trip to China reportedly designed to promote bilateral economic and diplomatic relations.
Although assessments of Kim's China trip differ among countries and media, Kim also discussed reducing tension on the Korean Peninsula and the nuclear issue in talks with top Chinese officials, as it is Pyongyang's bargaining chip to secure stronger support from China.
Kim's special train crossed the China-North Korea border into the North's border city of Sinuiju earlier in the day after a 6,000-kilometer-long journey that took him to China's northeastern and prosperous eastern areas and Beijing.
At the border city, Kim was greeted by his heir apparent son, Kim Jong-un, and other top officials upon returning home, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Later Kim was also given great fanfare. The KCNA reported on May 29 that a military song and dance band performed a gala show for Kim Jong-il at an undisclosed place. Kim Jong-un is believed to have arranged the celebration where a large number of the North's powerful elite were present.
The KCNA dispatch is the confirmation that the leader-in-waiting did not accompany his father on his trip to China. 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.
Kim called for a quick resumption of the long-stalled talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear programs during his summit talks with Hu in Beijing on May 25, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.
But the KCNA gave a toned-down account, saying that Kim and Hu recognized that a peaceful resolution of the nuclear standoff through dialogue, including the resumption of the nuclear talks, and the "elimination of obstructive elements" conform to the overall interests in the region. The KCNA did not elaborate on what the "obstructive elements" mean.
Kim spoke of his wish to have an early resumption of the six-party talks reiterating readiness for denuclearization. Hu stressed the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula by remaining calm and restrained in disputes, showing flexibility and improving relations.
According to Xinhua, Hu stressed the importance of peace and stability as well as denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, urging related parties to "remain clam and restrained, show flexibility, remove obstacles, improve relations and make positive efforts to ultimately accomplish peace, stability and development on the peninsula."
The North has repeatedly expressed its interest in returning to the talks, but its refusal to take responsibility for its two deadly attacks last year on South Korea has hindered diplomatic efforts to revive the talks that also include South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
The North's leader visited China from May 20-26, his third trip to the neighboring ally and main provider of aid in about a year. China's Premier Wen Jiabao said that Beijing invited Kim so that he could share China's economic development experience with him.
While Kim Jong-il was traveling through Northeast China unannounced, Premier Wen revealed to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan during a regular summit in Tokyo that the North Korean leader was there to learn about China's experience of economic development.
It was later confirmed that the two countries held separate "economic summit talks" between Kim and Premier Wen in Beijing. Meeting Kim in Beijing, Wen is known to have given a lukewarm answer to Kim's request for direct Chinese government aid and investment by pointing to the role of enterprise and provincial authorities in the free market system.
Meanwhile, two planned groundbreaking ceremonies that would have marked China's additional investment in North Korea were abruptly canceled, an indication that the two sides have differences on the projects.
The two sides were scheduled to hold a ceremony for a joint project to turn Hwangkumpyong, an island in the Yalu River near the Sinuiju-Dandong border, into an industrial complex, according to a source.
Another ceremony in Rason, the North's free trade zone on the northeast, was canceled. The North designated Rason as a special economic zone in 1991 and has since striven to make it become a regional transportation hub near China and Russia, but no major progress has been made.
Kim's remark on the nuclear talks appeared little different from what he has previously said. Kim has called for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, saying it was a "dying wish" of his late father and national founder Kim Il-sung.
But he has actually refused to give up the nuclear programs and rather sought to bolster them, including seeking uranium enrichment, which could provide Pyongyang with a second way of building atomic bombs after the existing plutonium-based program.
It appeared that Xinhua and the KCNA coordinated the timing of their dispatches that marked the first time the sides have confirmed Kim's secretive trip to China, the North's last-remaining major ally that has propped up the impoverished regime with aid and diplomatic support.
The two sides typically reveal details of Kim's Chinese trips only after he returns home. The May 26 dispatches marked the first time the two countries have confirmed Kim's trip before the reclusive leader crossed into the North.
"Kim said the DPRK (North Korea) hopes to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula, sticks to the objective of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and believes that the six-party talks should be resumed at an early date," Xinhua said. "Kim said the DPRK, as always, sincerely hopes relations between the DPRK and the Republic of Korea (ROK/ South Korea) could be improved.
The KCNA said that Kim and Hu recognized that the "adherence to the goal of denuclearization on the whole Korean Peninsula, peaceful settlement of the issue through dialogue, including the resumption of the six-party talks, and the elimination of obstructive elements conform to the overall interests of Northeast Asia."
They "shared views on making good understanding and coordination," it said. The KCNA made no mention of relations with South Korea.
Since early this year, Pyongyang has called for an unconditional resumption of the nuclear talks, a typical North Korean tactic of stoking tensions and then trying to return to the negotiating table to extract concessions.
But South Korea and the U.S. have urged Pyongyang to first take concrete steps demonstrating its denuclearization commitment before resuming the nuclear talks. Seoul has also demanded the North first apologize for last year's attacks that claimed the lives of 50 South Koreans.
Kim told Hu that North Korea "is now concentrating its attention and resources on economic development, and it is in great need of a stable neighboring environment," Xinhua said, a comment seen as a plea for Chinese help in reviving the North's broken economy.
It was Kim's third trip to China in about a year. The latest trip came as Kim has been grooming his youngest son as his successor. Last year, the heir-apparent was given top posts at the ruling Workers' Party as well as the title of a four-star general.
The KCNA said that Hu called for advancing the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries, saying China's government and party will "creditably discharge the historic responsibility for steadfastly carrying forward the baton of the traditional Sino-DPRK friendship." The remark suggests that China may have given its blessing to Kim's succession plan.
Kim still wanted to have the dynastic power transition recognized by Chinese leaders as he mentioned the "great historic task" of relaying friendship from one generation to the next. President Hu responded passively by just paraphrasing Kim's remarks about inheriting friendship.
Kim's meeting with Hu, the third in just more than a year, illustrates the significance the two neighbors attach to each other, once described as being as close as "lips and teeth."
In China, Kim visited an automaker, IT companies, a solar energy company and a large discount store as well as a top electronics company as he traveled across China's northeastern region and prosperous eastern areas before reaching Beijing.
It remains to be seen whether Kim's trips to economic facilities in China will translate into any specific gestures toward economic reforms. "Kim will make ostensible efforts toward reforms for the sake of drawing aid and investment from China," said Han Ki-bum, a researcher at the state-run Korean Institute for National Reunification in Seoul.
North Korea's previous experiments with limited reforms have backfired, deepening the country's economic woes with no relief in sight.
Responding to Kim's China trip, South Korea urged North Korea on May 27 to demonstrate its denuclearization commitment and to address Seoul's grievances over last year's two deadly attacks. "Our position remains unchanged that the North should show its change of attitude by deeds, not words," Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung told reporters.
Presidential spokeswoman Kim Hee-jung gave a similar remark, urging Pyongyang to show "sincerity" and a "responsible attitude." Seoul's position on the nuclear talks remains unchanged, the spokeswoman said.
On May 29, Seoul's Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said North Korea and its political system appear to be underprepared to embrace reform and openness amid speculation as to whether Pyongyang will follow in China's footsteps after leader Kim Jong-il's trip to the neighboring nation.
"If North Korea is going to reform and open up, its (political) system should also be ready for reform and openness, but I think it appears that they are not prepared yet," he said on KBS Television.
Minister Kim said that the North Korean leader's trip to China has positive sides because it provides the reclusive leader with more chances to see and learn about China's economic rise. Inter-Korean relations can move forward when the communist North carries out reforms and opens up to the outside world, he said.
On tensions between the two Koreas, the minister criticized the North for trying to talk only to the U.S. about security issues while considering the South as a counterpart for economic matters. Pyongyang should be open to discussing all issues with South Korea, he said.
But for all the conflicting assessment, the North's lavish praise is no doubt aimed to make North Korean residents and the outside world believe that Kim Jong-il's visit was highly successful despite the sparse evidence of concrete achievements, experts said.
Although assessments of Kim's China trip differ among countries and media, Kim also discussed reducing tension on the Korean Peninsula and the nuclear issue in talks with top Chinese officials, as it is Pyongyang's bargaining chip to secure stronger support from China.
Kim's special train crossed the China-North Korea border into the North's border city of Sinuiju earlier in the day after a 6,000-kilometer-long journey that took him to China's northeastern and prosperous eastern areas and Beijing.
At the border city, Kim was greeted by his heir apparent son, Kim Jong-un, and other top officials upon returning home, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Later Kim was also given great fanfare. The KCNA reported on May 29 that a military song and dance band performed a gala show for Kim Jong-il at an undisclosed place. Kim Jong-un is believed to have arranged the celebration where a large number of the North's powerful elite were present.
The KCNA dispatch is the confirmation that the leader-in-waiting did not accompany his father on his trip to China. 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.
Kim called for a quick resumption of the long-stalled talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear programs during his summit talks with Hu in Beijing on May 25, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.
But the KCNA gave a toned-down account, saying that Kim and Hu recognized that a peaceful resolution of the nuclear standoff through dialogue, including the resumption of the nuclear talks, and the "elimination of obstructive elements" conform to the overall interests in the region. The KCNA did not elaborate on what the "obstructive elements" mean.
Kim spoke of his wish to have an early resumption of the six-party talks reiterating readiness for denuclearization. Hu stressed the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula by remaining calm and restrained in disputes, showing flexibility and improving relations.
According to Xinhua, Hu stressed the importance of peace and stability as well as denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, urging related parties to "remain clam and restrained, show flexibility, remove obstacles, improve relations and make positive efforts to ultimately accomplish peace, stability and development on the peninsula."
The North has repeatedly expressed its interest in returning to the talks, but its refusal to take responsibility for its two deadly attacks last year on South Korea has hindered diplomatic efforts to revive the talks that also include South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
The North's leader visited China from May 20-26, his third trip to the neighboring ally and main provider of aid in about a year. China's Premier Wen Jiabao said that Beijing invited Kim so that he could share China's economic development experience with him.
While Kim Jong-il was traveling through Northeast China unannounced, Premier Wen revealed to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan during a regular summit in Tokyo that the North Korean leader was there to learn about China's experience of economic development.
It was later confirmed that the two countries held separate "economic summit talks" between Kim and Premier Wen in Beijing. Meeting Kim in Beijing, Wen is known to have given a lukewarm answer to Kim's request for direct Chinese government aid and investment by pointing to the role of enterprise and provincial authorities in the free market system.
Meanwhile, two planned groundbreaking ceremonies that would have marked China's additional investment in North Korea were abruptly canceled, an indication that the two sides have differences on the projects.
The two sides were scheduled to hold a ceremony for a joint project to turn Hwangkumpyong, an island in the Yalu River near the Sinuiju-Dandong border, into an industrial complex, according to a source.
Another ceremony in Rason, the North's free trade zone on the northeast, was canceled. The North designated Rason as a special economic zone in 1991 and has since striven to make it become a regional transportation hub near China and Russia, but no major progress has been made.
Kim's remark on the nuclear talks appeared little different from what he has previously said. Kim has called for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, saying it was a "dying wish" of his late father and national founder Kim Il-sung.
But he has actually refused to give up the nuclear programs and rather sought to bolster them, including seeking uranium enrichment, which could provide Pyongyang with a second way of building atomic bombs after the existing plutonium-based program.
It appeared that Xinhua and the KCNA coordinated the timing of their dispatches that marked the first time the sides have confirmed Kim's secretive trip to China, the North's last-remaining major ally that has propped up the impoverished regime with aid and diplomatic support.
The two sides typically reveal details of Kim's Chinese trips only after he returns home. The May 26 dispatches marked the first time the two countries have confirmed Kim's trip before the reclusive leader crossed into the North.
"Kim said the DPRK (North Korea) hopes to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula, sticks to the objective of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and believes that the six-party talks should be resumed at an early date," Xinhua said. "Kim said the DPRK, as always, sincerely hopes relations between the DPRK and the Republic of Korea (ROK/ South Korea) could be improved.
The KCNA said that Kim and Hu recognized that the "adherence to the goal of denuclearization on the whole Korean Peninsula, peaceful settlement of the issue through dialogue, including the resumption of the six-party talks, and the elimination of obstructive elements conform to the overall interests of Northeast Asia."
They "shared views on making good understanding and coordination," it said. The KCNA made no mention of relations with South Korea.
Since early this year, Pyongyang has called for an unconditional resumption of the nuclear talks, a typical North Korean tactic of stoking tensions and then trying to return to the negotiating table to extract concessions.
But South Korea and the U.S. have urged Pyongyang to first take concrete steps demonstrating its denuclearization commitment before resuming the nuclear talks. Seoul has also demanded the North first apologize for last year's attacks that claimed the lives of 50 South Koreans.
Kim told Hu that North Korea "is now concentrating its attention and resources on economic development, and it is in great need of a stable neighboring environment," Xinhua said, a comment seen as a plea for Chinese help in reviving the North's broken economy.
It was Kim's third trip to China in about a year. The latest trip came as Kim has been grooming his youngest son as his successor. Last year, the heir-apparent was given top posts at the ruling Workers' Party as well as the title of a four-star general.
The KCNA said that Hu called for advancing the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries, saying China's government and party will "creditably discharge the historic responsibility for steadfastly carrying forward the baton of the traditional Sino-DPRK friendship." The remark suggests that China may have given its blessing to Kim's succession plan.
Kim still wanted to have the dynastic power transition recognized by Chinese leaders as he mentioned the "great historic task" of relaying friendship from one generation to the next. President Hu responded passively by just paraphrasing Kim's remarks about inheriting friendship.
Kim's meeting with Hu, the third in just more than a year, illustrates the significance the two neighbors attach to each other, once described as being as close as "lips and teeth."
In China, Kim visited an automaker, IT companies, a solar energy company and a large discount store as well as a top electronics company as he traveled across China's northeastern region and prosperous eastern areas before reaching Beijing.
It remains to be seen whether Kim's trips to economic facilities in China will translate into any specific gestures toward economic reforms. "Kim will make ostensible efforts toward reforms for the sake of drawing aid and investment from China," said Han Ki-bum, a researcher at the state-run Korean Institute for National Reunification in Seoul.
North Korea's previous experiments with limited reforms have backfired, deepening the country's economic woes with no relief in sight.
Responding to Kim's China trip, South Korea urged North Korea on May 27 to demonstrate its denuclearization commitment and to address Seoul's grievances over last year's two deadly attacks. "Our position remains unchanged that the North should show its change of attitude by deeds, not words," Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung told reporters.
Presidential spokeswoman Kim Hee-jung gave a similar remark, urging Pyongyang to show "sincerity" and a "responsible attitude." Seoul's position on the nuclear talks remains unchanged, the spokeswoman said.
On May 29, Seoul's Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said North Korea and its political system appear to be underprepared to embrace reform and openness amid speculation as to whether Pyongyang will follow in China's footsteps after leader Kim Jong-il's trip to the neighboring nation.
"If North Korea is going to reform and open up, its (political) system should also be ready for reform and openness, but I think it appears that they are not prepared yet," he said on KBS Television.
Minister Kim said that the North Korean leader's trip to China has positive sides because it provides the reclusive leader with more chances to see and learn about China's economic rise. Inter-Korean relations can move forward when the communist North carries out reforms and opens up to the outside world, he said.
On tensions between the two Koreas, the minister criticized the North for trying to talk only to the U.S. about security issues while considering the South as a counterpart for economic matters. Pyongyang should be open to discussing all issues with South Korea, he said.
But for all the conflicting assessment, the North's lavish praise is no doubt aimed to make North Korean residents and the outside world believe that Kim Jong-il's visit was highly successful despite the sparse evidence of concrete achievements, experts said.
