Kim Jong-il Wraps Up His “Unofficial” Visit of China

Kim Jong-il, chairman of the Defense Commission of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, wrapped up his three-day visit of Beijing, China on April 21 and is on his way home via train. The official media of China broke their silence and began to report about his visit after Kim left for North Korea.

“At the invitation of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and President Hu Jintao, Kim paid an unofficial visit to China from April 19 to 21,” China’s official Xinhua Press briefly said.

“Chairman Kim met with Jiang Zemin, chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, and other leaders and had in-depth discussions on various issues including the improvement of the two countries’ relations and North Korea’s nuclear program.

“Both sides agreed to continue the position on solving the issue through dialogue and in a peaceful way, and jointly pushing forward the six-party talks process,” the AP reported.

“Chairman Kim’s China visit was joined by Pak Bong-ju, the prime minister of the Cabinet, Yeon Hyeong-muk, the assistant chairman of the Defense Commission, Kim Young-chun, joint staff commander of the People’s Army, and Kang Seok-ju, the first assistant foreign minister,” reported the Chinese media. “The summit was attended by Joint Staff Commander Kim and Assistant minister Kang.”

Chairman Kim also visited the city of Tianjin, where its mayor, Dai Xianglong, guided his tour, Chinese press report added.

Before returning to Pyongyang, he stopped at Hancunhe, a “demonstration village,” for about an hour. Kim reportedly visited the village on April 20. However, it turned out that some members of his entourage paid a preliminary visit the day before. About 10 international journalists, who were at the village for news coverage, were briefly apprehended by Chinese security personnel.

Kim was seen off by Wang Jiarui, the Chinese communist party`s director of International Relations and other leaders on the Chinese border city of Dandong.

Kim will arrive in North Korea on the morning of April 22 as it will take 10 to 12 hours for his train to reach Dandong via Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province.

Yoo-Seong Hwang Young-Sik Kim yshwang@donga.com spear@donga.com