Chinese Pres. suspected of rejecting Kim’s offer to visit China

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un conveyed his intention to visit China before September to Chinese President Xi Jinping, DWnews, a U.S.-based Chinese language online news agency, reported on Monday.

According to DWnews, an official letter North Korea’s Vice Marshal Choe Ryong Hae, who visited Beijing as Kim’s special envoy, conveyed to President Xi at the Great Hall of the People on Friday, contained message that Kim wishes to visit China. China only answered “It got the message,” but stopped short of giving specific date for a visit. It means Beijing did not offer a clear answer accepting the proposed visit by the North Korean leader. At the time, Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency said, “(Choe Ryong Hae) said (North Korea) wishes to beef up exchange and deep communications between high-level officials,” without disclosing the content of the letter.

DWnews reported that the purpose of Choe’s visit was to explain to China about a string of the North’s recent military actions, respond to proposed resumption of the six-way talks, and conduct preparatory work for Kim’s visit to China. As if indicating this purpose, the personal letter suggested that “(The two sides) must inherit North Korea-China friendship, which our ancestor revolutionaries built and developed, and further solidify it.” That is, considering restoration of the blood-bonded ties between North Korea and China as his urgent priority, Kim seeks to achieve the goal through his visit to China. The source said, “When Kim Jong Un proposed exchange between high-level officials in April, China rejected the offer.”

DWnews analysis suggests that since Kim expressed his wish to visit China to President Xi through his personal letter, Beijing will not afford to deny the offer. The news agency predicts that if Kim’s China visit takes place, he will accept Beijing’s demand for denuclearization or present a big gift that Xi demands.

Meanwhile, in his book “The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia” published in the English-speaking world, Prof. Andrei Lankov, a Russian born North Korea expert at Kookmin University in Seoul, said, “The North’s collapse is inevitable, and social unrest and blood shedding are feared to occur as a result.”