[USFK Forums] U.S. envoy visits China amid sketchy reports about Kim's trip there

[C. Y. Lee]

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

U.S. envoy visits China amid sketchy reports about Kim's trip there

2006/01/12 11:52 KST

SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) -- A top U.S. envoy flew to Beijing Thursday as China kept a news blackout on the whereabouts of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il believed to be making a secret visit there.

A planned one-day trip to Beijing by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill apparently overlaps with the schedule of the secretive North Korean leader believed to have gone to China earlier this week.

U.S. and South Korean officials said they have no firm information about Kim's reported trip to China but believed that Beijing, in keeping with its past practice, would announce it after the leader has returned home.

Hill, who represents the U.S. in six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons development, said in Seoul before flying to Beijing that his travel plan is unrelated to Kim's reported trip to China.

"I must say the trip that Chairman Kim Jong-il took to China was a surprise to all of us, and it is complete coincidence that I am in the area at the same time," Hill told reporters, referring to Kim's official title, chairman of the National Defense Commission.

Before going to China, Hill visited Japan and South Korea. The three countries, along with the U.S., North Korea and Russia, are members of the six-nation nuclear talks.

In Seoul, Hill met with his South Korean counterpart, Song Min-soon, who returned from Beijing on Tuesday after two days of consultations with Chinese officials on the stalled six-party talks.

In September, North Korea agreed to disarm in exchange for economic aid and security assurances but follow-up negotiations stalled because of U.S. financial sanctions prompted by the communist country's making of fake U.S. dollars and other illicit activities.

North Korea vows not to rejoin the disarmament talks until the U.S. sanctions are lifted. Washington maintains that its scansions are a law enforcement issue and have nothing to do with the nuclear talks.

Hill said that while in Beijing, he would try to confirm whether North Korea is truly interested in disarming..

"We hope the Chinese can be in a position to announce the talks at some point," Hill said. "The United States is not interested in talks about talks. We are interested in talks about progress and talks about denuclearlization."
"We will have to see what the Chinese have heard most recently from the DPRK side -- perhaps they have very fresh news we have to find out," he said, using the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Also in Seoul on Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow, speaking at an academic forum, said that Kim's China trip, if confirmed, could help revive the stalled six-party talks.

"We have very little information about exactly where Chairman Kim Jong-il maybe is or what he is doing in China. If he is in fact there and having high-level meetings, it will lead to a new impulse to the six-party talks," he said.

Reports about Kim's trip are sketchy and conflicting. But reliable diplomatic sources in China said he flew to Shanghai on Monday and was expected to travel to Beijing for meetings with President Hu Jintao and other top Chinese officials.

Earlier reports had said that Kim crossed into China by train on Tuesday but they could not be confirmed. The leader, who reportedly fear flying, had used train for all of his recent visits to Russia and China.

Some speculated that Tuesday's cross-border run of a special train exclusive for high-ranking North Korean officials might have been a security precaution for the reclusive leader.

Kim's trip to China this week, if confirmed, would be his fourth since 2000. During a 2001 trip, the leader toured the stock exchange and foreign joint-venture firms in Shanghai, a move seen by outside experts as an effort to learn Chinese-style economic development.

Kim's reported trip to China comes less than three months after the Chinese president, Hu, visited Pyongyang in late October. During the trip, Hu promised unsparing Chinese assistance and advice if North Korea chooses to open and reform its shattered economy, according to Chinese media reports.

China is North Korea's only remaining major communist ally. It fought on North Korea's side in the 1950-53 Korean War.

(END)