Beijing (AsiaNews) – North Korea is ready to go back to the six-nation nuclear disarmament talks interrupted a year ago. It also wants to become China’s main economic partner. This is what North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il discussed with Chinese President Hu Jintao during a four-hour meeting held yesterday in Beijing. The two leaders had not seen each for four years and their discussion likely focused on North Korea’s nuclear programme.
The 68-year-old son of the late Kim Il-Sung arrived in China on Monday on an unusually high profile state visit.
After arriving in Dalian on his special train, Kim stayed at the city’s best hotel, the Furama, which is often host to international summits, the latest of which was the Davos Forum.
Unlike his previous three official visits to China, which were shrouded in almost pathological secrecy, the North Korean delegation and its leader met their hosts in the hotel.
The hotel stopped taking reservations but for the first time did not make its premises off limits to ordinary tourists.
Adding a bit of colour to his trip, the North Korean leader brought along the Phibada Opera Troupe (pictured), which is set to perform tonight the Chinese classic "Dream of the Red Mansion", in Korean.
For experts, this display is a sign that Pyongyang needs to underscore the “eternal brotherhood” between the two nations.
Facing a major economic crisis, a disastrous currency reform, and a major outbreak of tuberculosis in the southern part of the country, North Korea needs China’s support. Except for some tyrants in the Middle East and Latin America, no world leader is willing to speak to its leader or deal with its government.
Even the relationship with South Korea has collapsed recently. The election of Lee Myung-bak to the presidency of South Korea has not been helpful. The South Korean leader has not been inclined to indulge Pyongyang’s whims. Inter-Korean relations have in fact taken a turn for the worse. The sinking of the ROKS Cheonan, a corvette of the Republic of Korea Navy, which caused the death of 46 sailors, is but the latest episode in a deteriorating relationship. Even today, South Korean newspapers laid blame on North Korea for the “crime.”
About 65 per cent of North Korea’s industries depend on China. Since 2006, when Pyongyang began nuclear tests, Western and Asian nations have imposed an embargo on the Communist nation with crippling effects on its economy.
Now Kim needs Beijing’s goodwill for his regime’s survival and he is willing to go a long way to achieve that, including breaking some traditional rules, like no close physical contact. At least, that is how some saw Kim’s embrace of Hu when they met.
However, the visit is not going down well with ordinary Chinese, many of whom have not reacted warmly to Kim’s presence in their country. Many expressed the disapproval by posting comments online.
One netizen, who signed himself KimGetOut, wrote on Baidu, “Kim go home! The scoundrel is only coming to ask for money. We don’t want him to get any.”
Other Internet users slammed the luxury with which the North Korean leader likes to surround himself. During his stay in Dalian, his suite cost US$ 2,300 a night, the equivalent of his countrymen’s average annual income.
Tonight the North Korean delegation is set to meet Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to discuss economic relations. Kim is expected to sign economic agreements for the next two years that should keep his country and regime afloat.
The signing ceremony should follow the performance by the Phibada Opera Troupe. However, Beijing might ask the North Koreans to sign a pledge to go back to the disarmament talks.
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