North Korean leader Kim Jong-il told Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) during a rare trip to China that he was ready to return to stalled multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations, a report said yesterday.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, without citing sources, said Kim made the pledge during more than four hours of talks with Hu on Wednesday, during which Hu asked that Pyongyang come back to the table.
The 68-year-old North Korean leader arrived in China on Monday for his first trip abroad in more than four years — a mission analysts have said is aimed at securing badly needed assistance for a sanctions-hit economy.
In return, many experts had expected Kim to announce he would rejoin talks on ending the North’s nuclear weapons drive.
However, South Korean presidential spokesman Park Sun-kyoo yesterday said it was Seoul’s “firm position that there should be no six-party talks before the Cheonan incident is resolved.”
Pyongyang has denied all responsibility.
The US on Wednesday said it had shared with China its concerns about North Korea’s “provocative behavior” and voiced its continued support for Seoul over the sinking of the Cheonan.
“We have shared our views with China in anticipation of this meeting,” US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters when asked about Kim’s visit.
“We hope that North Korea will ... live up to its obligations and meet its commitments,” Crowley added.
Kim was expected to meet Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) and Vice President Xi Jinping (習近平), before watching a Chinese opera performed by a North Korean troupe, Yonhap said.
Kim was expected to discuss economic cooperation with Wen, who proposed the development of a China-North Korean “economic belt” when he visited Pyongyang in October, Yonhap said.
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