Jiang Zemin`s Plan To Visit North Korea Next Month 20 ~ 23

Beijing announced on the 3rd that China`s National Chairman Jiang Zemin will visit North Korea on September 20th to the 23rd.

The news communicated that the China Official Committee meeting held at Bai Tai Hu in Bo Hai discussed Chairman Jiang`s visit to North Korea and after establishing the dates, the committee decided to reschedule the 6th National Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Conference, originally planned for end of September, for the beginning of September.

The announcement predicts that Chairman Jiang will discuss various issues at the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, including economic support to North Korea, North Korea-U.S. relations, Chairman Kim`s visit to South Korea.

Chairman Jiang will visit North Korea not as the state sovereign, but as the Secretary General of the Communist Party, accompanied by the head of the Foreign Communications Committee Tai Pingwuh, head of the Executive Committee Ch`ung Chinghung, Vice Prime Minister Ch`en Chi`chun, and head of Foreign Relations T`angja Shi’an.

Chairman Jiang visited Pyongyang as Secretary General of the Community Party in 1990.

Chairman Jiang`s visit to North Korea follows the heels of his visit to Russia and is expected to have significant impact on the state of affairs in the Korean peninsula.

Lee Jong-Hwan ljhzip@donga.com