hankyoreh

Aug. 27

By Park Min-hee

Beijing Correspondent

“The fact that he has visited China twice this year is a ‘Northern Tour’ showing his determination to achieve economic development.”

This was the explanation given by a foreign affairs source in Beijing on the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s consecutive stops in the cities of Jilin and Changchun in northeast China's Jilin Province, in his second visit to China in three months. Both are central cities in the Changchun-Jilin-Tumen River Pilot Development and Opening Zone, which China has been actively pursuing at the central government level since last year. The source’s interpretation is that the visit symbolizes Kim’s determination to ride the tide of China’s northeast China development in order to develop North Korea’s economy.

Kim previously discussed linking northeast Chinese development with North Korea’s economic development at a May meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. By paying visits to key cities in the Pilot Development and Opening Zone during his second stop in China in three months, he showed that linking the development of China’s three northeastern provinces with North Korea’s economic development is now the focus of North Korea-China relations.

“If you take his line of movement during this China visit as the center, it appears that the most central purpose of his visit is to declare his intent to further encourage China's development strategy in the Pilot Zone, i.e. its three northeastern provinces, and North Korea’s economic cooperation with China,” said Inje University professor Kim Yeon-chul.

“If Kim Jong-il and President Hu Jintao had a meeting in Changchun, then there would also be the effect of the Chinese government actively lending force to the Pilot Zone development and showing off its close relationship with North Korea,” Kim said.

During his May visit, Kim Jong-il made a personal inspection of the development strategy and harbor capabilities of Dalian, a distribution hub in northeast China.

At the time, he said in regards to China, “The rapid development in the northeast, including Dalian, gives clear proof of the validity and vitality of the northeastern promotion strategy promulgated by the Chinese party and government.”

Kim also gave indications that the economic development of China and North Korea would be closely connected through development of China’s northeast.

During his current visit, he inspected industrial facilities in Jilin on Thursday, including the Huaxin Chemical Fiber Company, and experts are predicting that he may inspect a shopping mall and automobile factory in Changchun that was surveyed in February by North Korean international department head Kim Yong-il. In addition, experts are speculating that he may have met with the Chinese leadership in Changchun to flesh out discussions on the North Korea-China economic cooperation agreed upon during his May visit, while also discussing a course for development to help the North Korea economy out of its current crisis.

Because Jilin Province, where Changchun and Jilin are located, borders North Korea and has no harbor, its survival hinges on a strategy of borrowing North Korea's Rajin Harbor to travel out to sea. The Chinese government is currently carrying out plans to develop the Pilot Zone in the Tumen River valley, and this connects with development of the North Korean cities of Rajin and Chongjin. In view of this, experts are saying that Kim is likely to be carrying out negotiations in order to establish specifics about factors such as Chinese investment on North Korea and speed up the economic cooperation process, using as a negotiating card the development of Rajin and Sonbong Harbor in North Korea, which are key factors in the success of the Pilot Zone’s development.

During a North Korea visit by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, the two countries discussed plans for the development of Rajin Harbor as an international distribution hub equipped with a bonded area and transit trade functions, and for China's participation in this.

The source in Beijing said, “The key of Chairman Kim Jong-il’s China visit is the clear message that he has determined it is important to establish a linkage with northeastern China in order to resolve the economic issue, North Korea's most urgent task, and establish a plan for long-term development.”

The source went on to say, “But China has complained that whereas Deng Xiaoping's plan of reform and openness through his Southern Tour was used as a blueprint for achieving reform and openness for all of Chinese society through economic development, Chairman Kim Jong-il is trying to limit reform and openness to something used to overcome a crisis, without any blueprint for changing the overall system.”

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