Kim Jong-il's Meeting with Chinese Diplomat Is Message to the World

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il met with a senior Chinese Communist Party official last week in his first appearance with a foreign guest since a reported stroke last summer. But analysts in Seoul see added significance between the lines.

During the Jan. 23 meeting in Pyongyang, Kim said he does not want to raise
tensions on the Korean Peninsula and hopes to work closely with China to advance
the six-way talks on its denuclearization.
China's Xinhua news agency quoted Kim as saying, "The North Korean side will
commit itself to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and hopes to
co-exist peacefully with other involved parties."
Kim also accepted Chinese President Hu Jintao's invitation to visit China in his
meeting with Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the Communist
Party of China Central Committee. Kim last traveled China in early 2005.
Pyongyang's state-run media confirmed Kim's meeting with Wang and released photos
of the event, but omitted comments related to the six-party talks and
inter-Korean relations.
The pictures show Kim in his trademark quasi-military suit shaking hands with
Wang and holding up a wine glass to toast his Chinese guest.
The six-party talks on North Korea's denuclearization have been at a stalemate
since August over a dispute between Washington and Pyongyang on how to verify
Pyongyang's past nuclear activities. The latest round of talks in December broke
down with a failure to bridge the gap.
Pyongyang hopes to start anew with Washington's Barack Obama administration after
eight years of largely frayed relations with the Bush White House. In an apparent
move to draw Obama's attention, North Korea said recently it would hold onto its
nuclear weapons until it feels safe from U.S. military forces stationed in South
Korea.
Obama said on the campaign trail he would be willing to meet with Kim to help
resolve the nuclear issue. In a speech following his swearing-in ceremony, Obama
vowed to work with "old allies and former foes" to lessen the nuclear threat.
Speculation over Kim's health swirled after his absence from an important
anniversary event for the Workers' Party in September, especially because he has
not publicly named a successor.
Observers in Seoul say Kim's meeting with Wang is a signal he is still firmly in
control of the socialist state. The leader will turn 67 next month.
"Common sense would say that Chairman Kim's health condition seems to be normal,
as he met with a foreign guest," Seoul's Unification Ministry spokesman Kim
Ho-nyoun said.
Paik Hak-soon, a senior fellow with the Sejong Institute, an independent think
tank in Seoul, said China will try to push North Korea to disarm.
Beijing will try to say that "it is much more optimistic with the Obama
administration than Bush's, and that it would be in North Korea's interest to
cooperate in nuclear negotiations," Paik said.
Wang's visits have usually coincided with important events in North Korea. The
North Korean leader met Wang in January 2004, shortly before Kim's rare visit to
China, and again in February 2005, shortly after North Korea declared its
possession of nuclear weapons. Wang's latest trip in January 2008 came ahead of
the inauguration of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
Before his meeting with Kim, the Chinese official held talks with Choe Thae-bok,
secretary of the North's Workers' Party central committee, who concurrently
serves as chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly, and Kim Yong-Il, premier of
the Cabinet, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
Bilateral relations "are steadily growing stronger under the deep care of
General-Secretary Hu Jintao and General Secretary Kim Jong-il," Wang was quoted
as saying in the report.
Sources say Wang's visit aims to lay the groundwork for a possible summit between
the two leaders. In a related development, China's foreign ministry delegation
visited Pyongyang earlier this month.
Kim last received a foreign guest when Chinese Vice President Xi Jin-ping visited
in June.
The North Korean leader's latest remarks deepened the South Korean government's
concerns that Pyongyang may bypass Seoul in its efforts to reach out to the
outside world. Experts here point if Pyongyang engaged in direct diplomacy with
Washington, it would further marginalize South Korea's stake in dealing with the
communist country.
Some analysts said Kim is also sending a message to the United States that he is
ready to have talks with Washington on a range of thorny issues, such as the
establishment of formal diplomatic relations and the conclusion of a peace treaty
that would formally end the 1950-53 Korean War.
The U.S. welcomed Kim's reported comments that he is dedicated to denuclearizing
the Korean Peninsula. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in a press
briefing on Jan. 23 that the remarks were a "good thing," and the six-party
framework "has merit."
Five days later, South Korea officially welcomed Kim's comment that he wants to
push forward with the six-party denuclearization talks.
Analysts in Seoul say Wang's visit was also aimed at safeguarding China's clout
in directing the discussion on North Korea's nuclear program, and that it will
not allow itself to be sidelined on the issue.
(END)