It is in Beijing’s interest to have a stable relationship with North Korea, a state-controlled newspaper said yesterday during a reported visit to China by the impoverished state’s reclusive leader, Kim Jong-il, and his son.
A source with knowledge of the secretive trip told reporters at the weekend that the two Kims were on a trip to China, but there has been no official confirmation from either government.
“Maintaining and stabilizing the current relationship between China and North Korea is of maximum benefit to China,” the popular Chinese-language tabloid Global Times said in an editorial.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
China is the only major supporter for North Korea, which is largely isolated from the international community over its nuclear weapons program and which has come under further condemnation after South Korea accused it of sinking one of its warships earlier this year.
Kim Jong-il, 68, who rarely travels abroad, is reportedly in China for the second time this year. This time he is thought to have brought along his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, widely seen as the next head of the family dynasty that has led North Korea since its founding more than 60 years ago.
Yesterday, police lined the streets in Tumen, a city on China’s border with North Korea, a sign that Kim Jong-il may visit there, but there have been no definite sightings of him.
Kim may be lining up China behind succession plans involving his son, foreign analysts have said.
The Workers’ Party (WPK), which rubber-stamps big decisions in the North, is due to hold a rare meeting next month that could set in motion succession steps.
The Chinese newspaper blamed outside forces for pressuring North Korea as a way to create trouble for China, the sole major economic and diplomatic supporter of its much weaker neighbor.
The sinking of the South Korean navy ship, in which 46 sailors died, deepened tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul and strained Chinese ties with South Korea.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
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