BEIJING – China’s top legislator voiced hope that North Korea and the United States will implement their nuclear summit agreement as he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Chinese state media said Monday.

Li Zhanshu, sent by Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend North Korea’s 70th anniversary parade on Sunday, said Beijing was committed to the goal of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

“We have high regards of the efforts the DPRK has made towards regional peace and stability,” Li was quoted as saying, using the acronym for the North’s official name.

Xinhua said Li also conveyed his hope that North Korea and the United States could implement the outcome of the June summit between Kim and President Donald Trump in Singapore and work to preserve peaceful talks.

Trump and Kim reached a vague agreement to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, but there has been little movement since and Trump has accused Beijing — North Korea’s sole major ally — of complicating Washington’s relationship with Pyongyang.

But North Korea refrained from displaying its intercontinental missiles during Sunday’s parade, a conspicuous absence that Trump hailed as “a big and very positive statement.”

For his part, Kim said North Korea adheres to the consensus reached at the summit and “has taken measures in this regard while the U.S. side should take corresponding actions to jointly promote the political settlement of the Korean peninsula issue,” according to Xinhua.

Li also handed a signed letter from Xi to Kim.

In the missive, according to Xinhua, Xi wrote that it “is an unswerving policy of the CPC (Communist Party of China) and the Chinese government to safeguard, consolidate and develop China-DPRK relations.”

Relations between Pyongyang and Beijing have gone through a rough patch in recent years, with China backing United Nations sanctions to punish its Cold War-era ally for its nuclear activities.

But ties have recently improved as Kim met Xi in China three times this year.

Although the Chinese leader has yet to return the favor with his own visit to Pyongyang, he sent a major figure in Li to represent him. Li is a member of the Communist Party’s seven-person Politburo Standing Committee, China’s ruling council.

Source: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/09/10/asia-pacific/politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific/china-calls-u-s-north-korea-implement-singapore-agreement/

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BEIJING – A high-ranking Chinese official who is visiting North Korea has conveyed China’s President Xi Jinping’s personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to Chinese news reports.

Mr Li Zhanshu, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, gave the letter to Mr Kim in a meeting with him on Sunday (Sept 9) when he attended a military parade to celebrate the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding, according to China Central Television, Yonhap news agency reported.

Mr Li had travelled to North Korea as a special envoy of President Xi.

In the letter, President Xi hailed Mr Kim’s “focused efforts to develop the economy and improve people’s livelihood” through his “new strategic line.”

Mr Xi also reaffirmed China’s commitment to reinforcing relations with North Korea.

“China and North Korea, through the three past summits with Kim, opened a new chapter in the development of bilateral relations,” Mr Xi said in the letter. “(I) want to develop North Korea-China relations more quickly by implementing the two sides’ common understanding.”

According to Xinhua news agency, Mr Li said that no matter how the international and regional situation changes, China’s firm commitment to the consolidation and development of bilateral ties will not change.

Mr Li also said his visit aims to implement the important consensus between Mr Xi and Mr Kim, enhance high-level strategic communication, carry out friendly exchanges in various fields and have in-depth exchanges of views on further development of the traditional friendship so as to create a better future for the China-North Korea ties, Xinhua reported.

In the meeting with Mr Kim, Mr Li also reiterated China’s commitment to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, according to the report, reported Yonhap.

“(China) hopes North Korea and the United States will implement their common understanding (made) in their bilateral summit and keep to the good trend of peace and dialogue,” the Chinese official said, adding that China wants to play a “constructive role” in resolving Korean Peninsula issues politically together with other concerned nations.

Mr Kim reciprocated with an expression of appreciation, saying, “Currently North Korea is following a strategic line of focusing on economic development.”

He also said the North wants to learn from China’s experience of economic development and expand their bilateral relations, Yonhap reported.

Mr Kim also referred to the June summit meeting with US President Donald Trump in Singapore, noting that he wants the US side to take action in proportion to North Korean efforts taken in accordance with their agreement in the summit.

The news of the North Korea-China exchange came after North Korea’s dramatic gesture of good will as they celebrated the national anniversary ceremony with a toned-down military parade.

Mr Kim did not deliver his usual speech at the celebratory military parade, which, in turn, did away with its usual display of menacing intercontinental ballistic missiles, apparently as the country attempted not to provoke the United States or South Korea as the countries engage in dialogue efforts to end animosity on the Korean Peninsula.

Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/china-envoy-conveys-president-xi-jinpings-letter-to-north-korean-leader-kim-jong-un

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Tanned and wearing a swimsuit, So Myong Il walks to the barbecue pit and throws on some clams.

He obviously loves the beach he’s on as well as the rugged, emerald Chilbo mountains that rise abruptly behind it. He loves them enough to forget, for a moment at least, that he is a senior official sent to deliver an ideology-soaked pitch singing their praises and instead lets the natural beauty surrounding him speak for itself.

Comrade So sees great things for North Korean attractions like this.

Hotels, big and small. Tourists from all over the country, maybe the world. “As long as we have the leadership of our respected Marshal,” he says, referring to leader Kim Jong Un, “our future will be bright indeed.”

So wouldn’t think of questioning the leader, but there is a hint of apprehension in his voice. And he isn’t alone.

North Korea is pushing ahead with a new strategy of economic development and the intensified diplomacy with China, South Korea and the United States that such a move requires. But hopes for a better future are mixed with concern over potential downsides of political or social volatility, and something that’s harder to articulate: a fear of the unknown — even if it appears far more promising than the arduous path the country has been on for decades.

———

Even before announcing in January that he had sufficiently perfected his nuclear arsenal and could start to focus on other things, Kim has held economic development to be his primary long-term concern.

He has allowed markets and entrepreneurialism to flourish and, since succeeding his father as leader seven years ago, has dramatically transformed the skyline of the capital, Pyongyang, with several high-rise districts. The transformation in the east coast city of Wonsan, where Kim has a summer villa, has been almost as spectacular.

As Kim prepares for the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding on Sept. 9, his ambitious development plan is being implemented, from the small-time renovation of town halls to the almost biblical-scale mobilization of “soldier-builders,” who are working around the clock to turn the remote northern city of Samjiyon into yet another showcase of Pyongyang-style socialism.

Economic development — and how U.S. capital and know-how could speed it along — was President Donald Trump’s big carrot when he met with Kim in Singapore three months ago to try to negotiate a denuclearization deal.

But Kim’s diplomatic overtures aren’t intended to open the door to American capitalists, a scenario that would make any good party cadre shudder. They are aimed at breaking down support for sanctions and getting the U.S. to step out of the way. Kim’s game is to play China and the U.S. off each other, grab whatever concessions he can along the way and adjust his position as the situation evolves.

In the meantime, lest anyone get the wrong idea, the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea has begun churning out paeans to socialism in its daily newspaper along with anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism screeds that underscore North Korea’s official opposition to essentially anything that might be considered the American way of life. Or, as it’s known in the jargon of North Korea’s propaganda machine, “the imperialists’ bourgeois ideological and cultural poisoning.”

———

The past few months have been tense in Pyongyang.

Restrictions on some of the movements of foreign diplomats have been tightened, for example, and even requests by The Associated Press to interview government officials or to speak with regular citizens have mostly been denied.

Uncertain of where it might all end up, state-run media have provided only limited coverage of Kim’s meetings with Trump in June and his multiple summits with Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Reports have portrayed Kim as the consummate statesman, firmly in charge of a carefully considered strategy to make his country safer and more prosperous.

Kim is ardently wooing South Korean investment to help him build the very things Trump was offering: infrastructure, particularly roads and railways, and the development of selected tourism zones. After a high-profile chill last year, he is also actively courting Beijing, which continues to be an essential source of fuel, a key market for North Korea’s coal and other natural resources and a fairly reliable check on U.S. power in the region.

Pyongyang’s explanation for the shift in its foreign policy has been consistent: Having successfully built a credible nuclear deterrent to U.S. aggression, Kim is reaching out to Seoul to join hands in a “for Koreans, by Koreans” effort to secure a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, unhindered by the meddling of foreign powers.

Undoubtedly, images of the leader smiling and shaking hands with Trump, whose face had never been on the front pages of their newspapers before, signaled a major and bewildering change to many North Koreans.

But officials have made sure they don’t have much time to ruminate on it.

Normal routines of work and study have been put on hold for large segments of the populace who have been mobilized for the development projects. Tens of thousands of people in Pyongyang, meanwhile, have spent the past several months feverishly preparing for mass rallies and mass games to mark the anniversary.

———

Mount Chilbo, a collection of rocky peaks and a stretch of largely untouched seashore on the country’s northeastern fringe, is one of North Korea’s most cherished natural wonders.

The first hotel for non-Korean visitors opened in the 1980s, followed in 2004 by homestay-style lodgings near the beach, said So, a North Hamgyong Province People’s Committee official. Together they have a capacity of fewer than 100 guests and only operate from April until early November.

Many North Koreans bring tents and sleep on the beach.

But even in this rustic corner of the country, the pressure to contribute to Kim’s grand development scheme is keenly felt.

So said he would soon travel to China to discuss possible areas of cooperation.

As an indicator of Kim’s success with Beijing, tourism from China is already on the rise. Pyongyang’s longer-term goal, however, is to tap the South Korean market. The idea is that, if handled properly, South Korean tourism would present a chance to promote the North in a positive light and boost its image within South Korea.

That’s a gamble too.

Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, South Koreans were allowed to visit in a highly regulated and controlled manner, and massive investment from South Korean businesses helped the North fund infrastructure projects in the same Wonsan-Mount Kumgang area that Kim is focusing on now. But it ended badly in 2008 when a South Korean woman who entered a restricted area was shot to death by a North Korean soldier.

So said he believes Chilbo, like Kim’s pet projects in Wonsan, could be a big draw for tourists. But he worries about where the money will come from and what might be lost.

“Whatever we do, we need to protect the natural beauty of this place,” he said. “I think there will be many changes in the coming years. Plans are being discussed. But nothing is decided.”

———

Talmadge is the AP’s Pyongyang bureau chief and has traveled to North Korea regularly since 2013. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter: @EricTalmadge

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/hope-caution-north-korea-kim-jong-shifts-gears-57556790

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There is currently no sign that North Korea will display any of its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) during the country’s military parade next week, Reuters reported Friday.

Citing commercial satellite imagery taken on Aug. 22, Reuters reported that weapons seen at North Korea’s Mirim Parade Training Ground included tanks, self-propelled artillery, infantry carriers, anti-aircraft missiles and rocket launchers.

The parade will mark the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding. North Korea has long used parades to display the strength of its military, the outlet noted.

The parade is likely to mirror North Korea’s military parade, which was staged on Feb. 8, according to Reuters. The February parade, however, included ICBMs, which are believed to be able to reach the U.S.

Reuters reported North Korea could display other weapons in its Sept. 9 parade, including defense cruise missiles and several short-range ballistic missiles that were included in the February parade.

The parade will come shortly after President Trump asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to put off a high-level visit with North Korea. Pompeo was scheduled to make the trip last month as a follow-up on a framework agreement that Trump reached with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a summit in Singapore this summer.

Trump wrote in a tweet calling off the visit that he felt the U.S. was “not making sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

Source: http://thehill.com/policy/international/404769-no-sign-of-controversial-north-korean-icbms-at-military-parade-report

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