North Korean, Chinese leaders agree to boost ties at Pyongyang summit

SEOUL/BEIJING — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and China’s Xi Jinping agreed to expand cooperation in the areas of politics, economy and culture at a summit in Pyongyang that opened a new chapter in ties, North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said on Tuesday.

Making his first visit in seven years to China’s only formal treaty ally, Mr. Xi told Mr. Kim he aimed to drive progress in ties, and both agreed to strive for closer strategic communication through visits by high-level officials, KCNA said.

Mr. Kim told Mr. Xi he would fully support the “One China principle,” which Beijing views as meaning that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one country, regardless of changes in the international situation, it added.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced ​the use of force to bring the island under Beijing’s control, although Taipei rejects the sovereignty claims.

On Tuesday, Mr. Xi visited Pyongyang’s Sino-Korean Friendship Tower that commemorates Chinese soldiers who died in the Korean War, China’s official Xinhua news agency said.

It was not immediately clear if the leaders planned further talks, but they jointly planted a fir tree in the grounds of a key political training school for party cadres, which Xinhua said symbolized “ever-renewing friendship”.

ANALYSTS SEE CONTRASTING PRIORITIES
Despite the expressions of goodwill, however, analysts saw contrasting priorities in the official summaries of the visit.

While Xinhua detailed proposals ranging from high-level exchanges to trade and agriculture, along with restoration of transport links, KCNA cast the summit more broadly as a pact of equal partners, the analysts said.

Pyongyang stressed regime dignity and the neighbors’ “special relationship,” added Lim Eul-chul, a professor at South Korea’s Kyungnam University, while Beijing emphasized practical state-to-state ties and its initiatives for international order.

“North Korea removed elements that could make it look like a subordinate, dependent or beneficiary party, and rewrote the relationship as one between equals,” said Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

“It amplified signals of solidarity, such as anti-US and Taiwan-related messages, while erasing signals of dependence or subordination.”

China is North Korea’s biggest trade partner and analysts have said Mr. Xi’s trip could focus on trade and tourism.

“There are certainly good hopes for China-North Korea relations,” said Zhu, a 43-year-old doctor in Beijing who felt a gap still remains to be bridged, however.

“I feel that sometimes the two countries may appear quite friendly on the surface, but in reality there are still many issues,” added Zhu who declined to give her full name.

PATRIOTIC SONGS
Mr. Xi and first lady Peng Liyuan attended a performance of Chinese and North Korean songs, accompanied by Mr. Kim and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, along with high-ranking officials.

The songs highlighted “the value and closeness of DPRK-China friendship,” KCNA said, referring to the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Mr. Kim also hosted a banquet for Mr. Xi and his delegation, at which Mr. Xi voiced his desire to “share friendship” with Mr. Kim, the news agency said.

Chinese-North Korean relations had reached a “new historical starting point,” Mr. Xi said at the event marking the 65th anniversary of the neighbors’ friendship treaty, KCNA added.

Mr. Xi vowed that Beijing would not swerve from its commitment to safeguard common interests, Xinhua said on Monday.

But North Korean media did not say if Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program or relations with the United States figured in the talks.

The absence of such mentions suggests Beijing would like the visit cast in terms of the ties between the two countries, said Ja Ian Chong, a political science professor at the National University of Singapore.

During his first term, US President Donald Trump met Mr. Kim three times, before the unprecedented diplomatic effort broke down over US demands for North Korea to give up nuclear weapons. Mr. Trump has said he would be willing to restart talks.

“While it is highly likely that the leaders of China and North Korea would confer before Kim might meet Trump again, it is doubtful that Xi will serve as a catalyst for US-North Korea talks,” said Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

Mr. Xi is set to return to China on Tuesday afternoon, the Yonhap news agency said. — Reuters