Chinese President Visits Pyongyang, Pushes for Change

From the Washington Post October 28 2005
By Joe McDonald, AP

BEIJING -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il promised Friday to take part in the next round of nuclear talks in November, Chinese state TV reported, as China's president made a rare personal visit to Pyongyang to lobby for progress in disarmament efforts.

Kim reportedly told Chinese President Hu Jintao that the North was committed to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.It was the Stalinist dictatorship's highest-level commitment yet to push ahead with talks aimed at stripping North Korea of its nuclear programs."

The North Korean side will participate as scheduled in the fifth round of six-nation talks," the state TV news quoted Kim as saying. "North Korea is committed to the denuclearization of the (Korean) peninsula."

North Korean media did not immediately report on Kim's remarks.

Hu flew to Pyongyang on Friday in an apparent effort to push for progress in the Chinese-organized nuclear talks, which also involve the United States, South Korea, Japan and Russia.
China didn't disclose his Hu's agenda in advance, but analysts said he was certain to push Kim on the nuclear issue, possibly offering aid in exchange.

Hu told Kim that Beijing wants to see a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, Chinese state television said. Despite the polite tone, China's status as the isolated North's last major ally and aid donor gave Hu's plea special weight.China is under pressure from Washington and other governments to do more to push Pyongyang for concessions. Beijing has refrained from publicly confronting the North and says it has less influence than outsiders believe.North Korea promised at the end of the last round of talks in Beijing in September -the fourth since 2003 - to give up its nuclear programs in exchange for aid and a security guarantee.

But Pyongyang immediately raised doubts about its willingness to carry out that pledge, saying it wanted a civilian nuclear reactor for power generation before it dismantles its program _ a condition that Washington has challenged as possibly unworkable.

Hu is the first Chinese leader to visit North Korea since 2001. Kim, who rarely travels abroad, last visited Beijing in 2004, when he studied Chinese economic reforms. Hu was greeted by thousands of cheering North Koreans in Pyongyang. Kim met him at the airport, and Chinese TV showed the Chinese leader being driven into the capital past throngs of people who waved flowers and small flags. Many of the women wore traditional Korean gowns and some appeared to have tears of joy in their eyes.Chinese TV and China's official Xinhua News Agency put the size of the crowd at 100,000.Meeting later at a government facility, Hu praised Kim's leadership and assured him of China's friendship and support."Pushing forward friendly, cooperative Chinese-North Korea relations and continuously deepening development is our common responsibility," he said, according to Xinhua.

Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, who accompanied Hu to Pyongyang, spoke by phone Thursday night with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Foreign Ministry said. It said they discussed international affairs but did not give details.The nuclear dispute erupted in late 2002 after U.S. officials said North Korea admitted violating a 1994 deal by embarking on a secret uranium enrichment program. Hu, whose visit lasts through Sunday, is also expected to lobby Kim to pursue Chinese-style reforms more aggressively in hopes of reviving its decrepit, government-controlled economy.

Beijing is eager to see a more robust North, both to reduce its reliance on Chinese food and fuel aid and to reduce the risk of a political collapse and chaos on its border.Thousands of North Koreans fleeing famine and repression live in hiding in China's northeast. Beijing has been frustrated by asylum bids by North Koreans at embassies and other foreign offices.