Beijing, May 06: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has told President Hu Jintao on a rare trip to China he is ready to return to stalled nuclear disarmament negotiations, a media report said Thursday.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, without citing sources, said Kim made the pledge during more than four hours of talks with the Chinese president on Wednesday, during which Hu asked that Pyongyang come back to the table.
The 68-year-old North Korean leader arrived in China on Monday for his first trip abroad in more than four years — a mission analysts have said is aimed at securing badly-needed assistance for a sanctions-hit economy.
In return, many experts had expected Kim to announce he will rejoin the stalled talks, which are hosted by China, on ending the North’s nuclear weapons drive, though the sinking of a South Korean warship could create complications.
Kim and Hu met Wednesday evening at the Great Hall of the People, ahead of an official welcome dinner for the North Korean delegation, Yonhap reported. No details of the meeting were given in the report.
On Thursday, the North Korean leader was expected to meet with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice-President Xi Jinping, before watching a Chinese opera performed by a North Korean troupe at about 6:00 pm (1000 GMT), it said.
Kim was expected to discuss economic cooperation with Wen, who proposed the development of a China-North Korean “economic belt” when he visited Pyongyang last October, Yonhap said.
Earlier this week, Kim visited docks and industrial facilities in and around the Chinese port cities of Dalian and Tianjin — both lauded by Chinese authorities as models of economic development.
“His current trip to China appears to have a strong political and diplomatic motive, compared to his previous trips,” Kim Yong-Hyun, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University in Seoul, told AFP.
“North Korea now needs a breakthrough as its isolation from the international community has deepened, with its economic troubles worsening.”
The North has said it will not return to the six-party disarmament talks grouping the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States until UN sanctions are lifted and the US agrees to talks on a formal peace treaty.
The possible resumption of the talks, abandoned by Pyongyang a year ago, has been complicated by the March sinking of a South Korean warship with 46 sailors aboard — an incident Seoul has hinted could be the North’s fault.
Traces of explosive from a torpedo have been found on debris of the Cheonan, the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper said Thursday, quoting an unnamed member of the investigative team, but the defence ministry denied the report.
Pyongyang has denied all responsibility.
The United States said Wednesday it had shared with China its concerns about North Korea’s “provocative behaviour” and voiced its continued support for Seoul over the sinking of the Cheonan.
“We have shared our views with China in anticipation of this meeting,” US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters when asked about Kim’s visit.
“We hope that North Korea will… live up to its obligations and meet its commitments. We hope that North Korea will cease its provocative behaviour but then we will see what comes out of the meeting tomorrow,” Crowley added.
North Korea is under tough UN sanctions over its refusal to halt its atomic drive, and its economy suffered a new blow last November when a currency reform backfired, wiping out people’s savings and sending prices soaring.
China is seen as the only country capable of wielding any influence over Kim’s hardline regime.
Kim’s trip to China has not been officially confirmed by either Beijing or Pyongyang. Kim, who is said to dislike air travel, has visited China four times since 2000, each time by train.
His current visit to China — Pyongyang’s only major ally and main source for finance, food and fuel — has been shrouded in secrecy, with journalists waiting for hours, often only to catch a fleeting glimpse of a motorcade.
—Agencies