[USFK Forums] Two articles on Kim Jong-il [AP and AFP]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Thursday, January 12, 2006

Kim Jong Il Visits China, Raising Hopes

By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer
Tue Jan 10, 10:32 AM ET

Secretive North Korean leader Kim Jong Il traveled to China on Tuesday, a South Korean military intelligence official said, raising hopes of a resumption of international talks on the North's nuclear weapons program.
China's Foreign Ministry said Kim planned to visit Beijing at some point — and the nuclear issue would be a key topic for discussion — but it did not give the exact timing.

"Of course, Kim Jong Il plans to visit China. There's definitely such a plan. But as for the exact time of the visit, I will release information when I am authorized," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said at a regular news briefing. China has in the past announced Kim's visits only after he has returned to North Korea. His last visit was in early 2004.

A South Korean military intelligence official told The Associated Press that Kim crossed into China on Tuesday by train. "We confirmed he went to China by train," the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. "We don't know why."

The official said the information came from intelligence sources inside China. But South Korean government agencies in Seoul said they were unable to confirm whether Kim had left North Korea for China.

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, citing diplomatic officials it did not identify, said Kim's train was heading first for the eastern Chinese city of Shanghai.

In Moscow, officials at the Foreign Ministry and the Kremlin had no comment on whether Kim would travel on to Russia.

The trip, if confirmed, comes as North Korea refuses to return to six-nation disarmament talks, stalled since November, citing hostile policies by the United States. The talks include the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.

As North Korea's last major ally and aid donor, Beijing has been urged to use its leverage with Pyongyang to return to the talks, which have been ongoing since 2003.

Chinese President Hu Jintao visited North Korea in October in an apparent effort to push for progress in the talks.

Kim, who seldom travels abroad, last visited China in April 2004 for a summit with Chinese leaders, and he studied Chinese economic reforms.

Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University, said Kim's trip to Beijing could lead to changes in North Korea's economy."I believe that it is time for the North to show some specific movement for economic reconstruction by expediting its reform and openness," he said.

North Korea began limited Chinese-style changes in its decrepit, centrally planned economy in 2002 when it introduced tentative economic reforms. But Beijing is pushing Pyongyang to speed up economic development and has promised aid and advice.

Analysts said Kim also was likely to use the trip to strengthen its relationship with China as an ally against the United States.

"It is trying to find a breakthrough in those (relations) with China, as Beijing is a key party in the nuclear issue," Koh said. "North Korea has exhausted all of its available cards."

Kim's government wants a peace treaty and diplomatic relations with Washington as part of a settlement for giving up its nuclear weapons programs.

The North claimed in February that it had nuclear weapons, and experts believe it has enough radioactive material for at least a half dozen bombs. The claim has not been verified independently.

In December, North Korea threatened to boycott the talks unless Washington lifted sanctions it imposed because of alleged counterfeiting and other illicit activities by the North. On Monday, North Korea said any talks with the United States amid such an environment were "illogical."

The Americans insist that the sanctions are separate from the nuclear talks, which started after North Korea admitted to having the ability to develop nuclear weapons.

The Chinese spokesman, Kong, called for more flexibility among parties in their negotiations.

"The difficulties should and could be overcome because the goal of peacefully resolving the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula cannot be changed," he said. "We need to keep making progress."

Associated Press reporter Kwang-Tae Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

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NKorean President Kim Jong Il In China For Talks

by Peter Harmsen
Beijing (AFP) Jan 10, 2006

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il reportedly arrived in China Tuesday for a rare visit that analysts said offered some hope for progress in the diplomatic stand-off over the secretive regime's nuclear program.

While South Korean media reported a special train was carrying the reclusive leader to the capital of his main ally, China refused to either confirm or deny that a visit was taking place.

"Of course Kim Jong-Il plans to visit China, there is definitely such a plan," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan told a regular briefing.

"But (regarding) at what time, I must release information only when I have authorized information." Kim's train -- his main means of long-haul transport reportedly because he is afraid of flying -- passed through the Chinese border town of Dandong amid tight security before dawn, South Korean media reports said.

"The scene was quite similar to one in April 2004, when Kim Jong-Il visited China by a special train," Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified source as saying.

South Korea's National Intelligence Agency told AFP it was checking the report while the defense ministry, quoting military intelligence, said it had no information on the matter.

North Korean and Chinese media carried no reports of a visit by Kim, who rarely ventures abroad. If confirmed, this would be Kim's fourth trip to China since May 2000. He last visited in April 2004, a trip that was similarly shrouded in secrecy.

Gilles Guiheux, director of the Hong Kong-based French Center for Research on Contemporary China, called Kim's visit "a victory for Chinese diplomacy" in regards to the stalled six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

"It's probably a good sign he's visiting in the sense that it means he's ready to hear what the Chinese are going to tell him," he said. "They're probably going to pressure him to move forward so some kind of agreement is reached with the United States."

China has hosted six-party talks aimed at ending the standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, and President Hu Jintao visited Pyongyang in October to discuss the stalled talks.

Under an accord reached at the September talks, the Stalinist country agreed to eliminate its nuclear weapons in return for diplomatic and economic benefits.

But the last round of talks in November ended in a stalemate after the Stalinist country demanded the United States lift sanctions imposed on its firms.

The US Treasury Department in September told US financial institutions to stop dealing with a Macau bank, Banco Delta Asia, which it accused of being a front for North Korean counterfeiting. A month later the US blacklisted eight North Korean companies allegedly involved in the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

Pyongyang denies the charges and insists that the sanctions, targeting the flow of hard currency to North Korea, are a major roadblock to six-party talks.

Washington insists sanctions are unrelated to the nuclear standoff, which erupted in late 2002 over US charges that North Korea was seeking to build nuclear weapons through a secret uranium enrichment program.

The six-party talks involve China, the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia.

Joseph Cheng, a China analyst at the City University of Hong Kong, agreed the six-party talks would be on the agenda during Kim's visit, but said he would also be seeking food aid from China for his impoverished country.

"There are two aspects here. China wants to prepare the next round of six-party talks and make sure there is a roadmap based on the vague consensus reached in previous talks," Cheng said. "And since it's in the middle of winter, North Korea will hope to discuss food aid from China."

Cheng said Kim will also probably spend time inspecting a high-tech company or research institute, as he has done during past visits to China.

"It will be a good gesture to China and to the outside world that he cares about economic reform," he said.




Source: Agence France-Presse