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Senior Chinese official visits NKorea
2009-01-21
SEOUL (AFP) - A senior Chinese official is visiting North Korea, state media said, in a trip coinciding with the inauguration of the new US administration. The visit by Wang Jiarui, reported late Wednesday, also raises the prospect of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il making his first appearance before foreign media since he reportedly suffered a stroke last August. "A delegation from the international liaison department of the central committee of China's Communist Party, headed by department chief Wang Jiarui, arrived in Pyongyang on January 21," Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station and other state-run media said in a short statement. The statement, quoted by Seoul's Yonhap news agency, did not elaborate on the visit. The North has given conflicting signals on whether it plans to push ahead with denuclearisation under the Obama administration. Last Saturday the foreign ministry, staking out a tough position, said Pyongyang may not give up its nuclear weapons even after establishing diplomatic ties with Washington. It said the US "nuclear threat" must first be lifted completely. But a New Year policy-setting editorial carried none of the customary criticism of the United States. And state media Wednesday reported the presidential inauguration less than a day after the ceremony, more quickly than on previous occasions. The North in 2007 signed a disarmament pact with the US, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China. But progress is stalled by disagreements over how its declared nuclear activities should be verified. Wang has met Kim Jong-Il on all his recent visits. Since Kim's reported stroke, state media has published dozens of undated photos of him inspecting military installations or factories in an apparent attempt to show he is fit and in control. But he has not appeared before foreign media since last summer. "Considering his position, it is possible for Wang to meet Chairman Kim Jong-Il and he will be able to check his health condition," Paik Hak-Soon, of the Sejong Institute think tank, told Yonhap news agency. Paik said Wang was also expected to deliver a message from Beijing -- "that it is much more optimistic with the Obama administration than Bush's, and that it'd be in North Korea's interest to cooperate in the nuclear negotiations."
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