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Report: China offers aid to impoverished NKorea
2009-02-05
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea's state media said Wednesday that China has offered Pyongyang aid, a deal that was likely reached at a recent meeting between reclusive leader Kim Jong Il and a senior Chinese official. The Korean Central News Agency said in a brief dispatch that the aid will be "an encouragement" to North Koreans in their efforts to build "a great, prosperous, powerful nation." It did not say what kind or how much aid China had offered. The impoverished communist country has resorted to outside handouts to help feed its 23 million people since its centrally controlled economy collapsed in the mid-1990s due to natural disasters and mismanagement. Wednesday's report came after senior Chinese Communist Party official Wang Jiarui visited Pyongyang last month and met Kim. Wang was the first foreign dignitary known to have seen the North Korean leader since he reportedly suffered a stroke in August. China fought alongside North Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War and remains Pyongyang's only major ally and a key donor of food and energy. Beijing has traditionally provided aid to North Korea after dispatching senior officials to Pyongyang. China's Foreign Ministry had no immediate information about the deal, and Wang and other officials could not be reached for comment. Paik Hak-soon, an analyst at the private Sejong Institute security think tank in South Korea, said during his trip Wang likely promised China's support in helping North Korea rebuild its dilapidated economy. Paik said the aid would likely include food, oil and raw materials.
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