hankyoreh

August 14.

By Park Min-hee Beijing correspondent and Kim Kyu-won, staff reporter

The Kim regime appears to reaching out overseas for help with rebuilding its economy after finishing with its early organization changes. Questions are now being raised about whether the changes afoot in North Korea, including the recent abolition of parts of its distribution system and planned economy, are signaling farther-reaching reforms and openness to come.


Jang Song-thaek arrived in China on August 13 for a six-day visit. The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) vice chairman, known to be the "second-in-command" for the Kim Jong-un regime in Pyongyang, came with a large delegation. Meanwhile, North Korea has also been pushing for talks with Japan and the United States after ongoing frictions.

An official from South Korea’s Ministry of Unification predicted on August 14 that Jang and his delegation would ask for bold investment and support from the Chinese central government to support North Korea's economic development.


"The key questions here are going to be how positively Beijing will respond, and how it will communicate the international community's demands to Pyongyang," the official said.


Seoul believes the new regime's organizational changes are basically complete following the dismissal of People's Army Chief of General Staff Ri Yong-ho and the appointment of Kim, the WPK first secretary, as marshal.


Rebuilding the economy has definitely been the regime's main focus since those changes. Pyongyang reportedly took measures on June 28 to change areas of the planned economy and distribution and cooperative farming systems and introduce market economy elements, developing a task force for economic reconstruction. The measures are currently being tested over a limited area, but could be implemented nationwide if the results are positive.


North Korea is also going after all-out economic cooperation with China. Jang and Chinese commerce minister Chen Deming held a third meeting of the two countries' joint leadership committee for development of the Rason and Hwanggumpyong/Wihwa areas at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on Tuesday. Jang is also known to be planning meetings with a number of Chinese leaders during his visit, including president Hu Jintao and vice president Xi Jinping, who is expected to be China’s next president. He is likely to discuss the full range of issues facing North Korea, including economic cooperation, reforms and openness, nuclear testing, and its rocket launch attempt.


Meanwhile, efforts to contact Tokyo have been gathering momentum. Since last year, Song Il-ho, the country's ambassador for normalizing relations with Japan, had been expressing Pyongyang's willingness to repatriate the remains of Japanese soldiers currently stored in North Korea. The two countries finally held their first Red Cross talks in eight years in Beijing on Aug. 9 and 10. Kyodo News reported Tuesday that the talks were successful and the two governments had decided to hold a formal meeting in Beijing on Aug. 29. It would be the first between Pyongyang and Tokyo in the four years since Aug. 2008.


Talks have also resumed with Washington after being cut off in the wake of North Korea's attempted rocket launch in April. Responding to reports of a meeting between the two countries' senior officials in New York last month, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said at a daily press briefing Monday that they would be keeping the New York channel open and engage in contacts as needed. 
The "New York channel" is an unofficial line linking Clifford Hart, the US's special envoy for the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue, with Han Song-ryol, North Korea's deputy UN ambassador.


Some observers are hopeful of a more open political style from Kim Jong-un. The new leader has been a definite departure from previous ones, immediately admitting the failure of the April rocket launch and contacts with Tokyo, Beijing, and Seoul, and appearing with his wife in public.


But it's too early to tell if these changes herald actual reforms and openness to come. For example, the policy of Songun, or "military first," which is synonymous with conservatism in the country, is also the guiding instruction of the late Kim Jong-il and one of the key means of shoring up the regime. Even if Pyongyang goes that route, it is more likely to following the same path as China, taking care not to rush things and keeping politics and the economy separate.


"All the other countries are supportive of the new North Korean regime's move toward reforms and openness," said University of North Korean Studies professor Yang Mu-jin. "The main issues are going to be internally how they win over and get understanding from conservatives and residents, and externally how to go about improving relations with Seoul and Washington."


The lineup of the delegation attending the first meeting with their Chinese counterparts at Diaoyutai on Tuesday, including Jang Song-thaek, gives a clear picture of the visit's importance. The main figure in charge of North Korea's overseas economic cooperation efforts, Jang was accompanied by senior party and administration officials like WPK international bureau chief Kim Yong-il and vice foreign minister Kim Hyong-jun. The WPK vice chairman is expected to attend what amount to summit talks with the Chinese leadership in lieu of Kim Jong-un.


"There is a good chance he's going to be meeting with commerce minister Chen Deming, president Hu Jintao, and vice president Xi Jinping, who is scheduled to take power as the new leader in October," said a Unification Ministry official.


The official also predicted he might survey economic development areas in China, as Kim Jong-il did in the past.


North Korea's joint investment committee is expected to play a pivotal role at the meeting. In the past, the country had figures like State Development Bank chairman Jon Il-chun and Taepung International Investment Group chief Pak Chol-su working to draw foreign investment, but to no avail. The joint investment committee was developed by WPK vice chairman Ri Su-yong (Ri Chol) under Jang's leadership, and is currently led by chairman Ri Kwang-gun. Current and former directors alike attended the latest meeting.


Also drawing attention is Kim Yong-il, who has been a major presence in relations with Beijing. In April, he met with Chinese Communist Party Central Committee international department director Wang Jiarui, and even Hu, while heading a WPK delegation to China. Wang subsequently visited North Korea in late July, and Kim was present at this meeting, too.


Other figures drawing notice are deputy international department chief Kim Song-nam and deputy foreign minister Kim Hyong-jun. 
A senior researcher at the Seoul National University Institute for Peace and Unification Studies said, "You can really get a sense of Jang's standing in North Korea from the people traveling with him."

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]