Chinese foreign minister meets Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang

Posted on : 2007-07-03 20:38 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST

China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi met North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to deliver a personal message from Chinese President Hu Jintao, Pyongyang's official news agency said Tuesday.

The North Korean News Agency (KCNA), monitored in Seoul, said the meeting took place later in the day, but did elaborate on the details of the verbal message from the Chinese president to Kim.

Kang Suk-ju, the North's influential first vice foreign minister, was present at the "cordial" meeting.

Other news services, citing China's Xinhua News Agency, said Kim told his guest that the Korean Peninsula situation is showing signs of easing. He added that all sides should implement the initial steps for denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula as stated in the Feb. 13 six-way talks.

Under the Feb. 13 agreement, Pyongyang pledged to take denuclearization steps in exchange for energy assistance and improved ties with the U.S. and Japan.

Kim's reception of the foreign minister marks the first time since October that the reclusive North Korean leader has met a foreign dignitary. The last meeting was with China's State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan.

Earlier in the day, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Yang's visit had been arranged to get the North to implement its denuclearization pledge and attend a fresh round of six-party nuclear talks.

The official said Yang would "express China's consistent stance on using peaceful means and consultation and dialogue to resolve the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue."

The Chinese foreign minister, who arrived in Pyongyang on Monday at the invitation of his North Korean counterpart Pak Ui-chun, met high ranking officials to discuss expanding political and economic ties, Qin said.

He was greeted at the airport by North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong-il, and later treated to a dinner apparently hosted by the North Korean foreign minister.

"Pak in his speech said that it is the consistent stance of the Workers' Party and the government of the DPRK to set store by and steadily boost the DPRK-China friendship," a KCNA report said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Related to the trip, the Chinese foreign ministry said on June 21 that Yang's overseas trip is aimed at exchanging views with the DPRK side on the development of the traditional bilateral friendship and cooperation, as well as international and regional issues of common interest. It added that the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue will be included in the talks.

Yang's trip comes as North Korea is moving to honor a previous pledge to resolve the current nuclear standoff.

China is the host of the six-nation nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea, which also involve South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.

The senior official's trip also follows a recent visit to North Korea by Washington's chief nuclear envoy Christopher Hill, who later said that North Korea promised to honor its side of the February agreement once it retrieved $25 million of its funds that were once frozen in a Macau bank because of U.S. pressure.

After the money at Macau's Banco Delta Asia was transferred to a North Korean bank account in Russia, North Korea invited back U.N. nuclear inspectors to discuss details of the planned shutdown of its key nuclear facilities.

No schedule for the North's shutdown of its Yongbyon nuclear complex has yet been released, but the chief of the IAEA delegation, Deputy Director General Ollie Heinonen, said the trip was "fruitful" and that his delegation has reached "an understanding" with the North Koreans on what should be done to shut down and seal the nuclear complex.

During their trip to North Korea, the IAEA officials were also allowed to make an on-site inspection of Yongbyon in their first trip there since IAEA monitors were kicked out at the height of the current nuclear crisis in late 2002.

The nuclear watchdog confirmed Heinonen's upbeat estimate in a report that will be submitted at a special board meeting next week.

It said Pyongyang had stated that it is ready to cooperate fully on the nuclear monitoring issue, including giving unrestricted access to all suspect facilities, and sealing off sensitive areas and setting up monitoring devices. The ongoing nuclear standoff erupted in October, 2002 when U.S. officials accused North Korea of running a clandestine uranium-based weapons program in addition to its acknowledged plutonium-based one, an accusation denied by the North.

The U.S. subsequently halted promised fuel oil shipments. The North retaliated by expelling IAEA monitors and quitting the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.


SEOUL, July 3 (Yonhap News)

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