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SEOUL (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to visit North Korea next year after being invited by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, South Korea announced on Saturday. the first Chinese leader to do so since 2005.
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives for APEC Leaders Summit 2018 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, November 17, 2018. Fazry Ismail / Pool via REUTERS
At a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Papua New Guinea, Xi told South Korean President Moon Jae-in that he " would take the time "to visit North Korea next year.
Xi added that China would continue to play a constructive role in building peace on the Korean peninsula, said Kim Eui-kyeom, spokesman for the South Korean presidential office, at the end of the meeting. an interview followed the meeting between Xi and Moon.
This comes at a time when negotiations between North Korea and the United States seem to have settled on how to remove Pyongyang's nuclear weapons.
At an unprecedented summit in Singapore, US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim agreed in June to work on denuclearization and peace on the Korean peninsula and to establish new ones. relationships. But the agreement was not detailed enough and the negotiations had not made much progress since then.
Xi's visit to North Korea will be the first of a Chinese president since his predecessor Hu Jintao's visit in 2005. Xi visited North Korea in 2008 as vice president.
In the midst of international sanctions against North Korea following its weapons tests, China is the only major ally of Pyongyang and an economic lifeline for the isolated country.
China appears to have eased sanctions enforcement in Pyongyang, as relations between China and North Korea have deteriorated after Beijing's long-standing relationship with Beijing began, US congressional commission said at the start of the week.
China's account of the bilateral meeting in Papua New Guinea makes no mention of Xi's plans to visit North Korea.
Xi said that last year, the situation on the Korean peninsula had undergone positive changes, returning to the "proper path" of negotiations, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
"At present, the situation on the peninsula is at a critical stage," said Xi, quoted by the ministry.
China and South Korea should strengthen communication and coordinate the process of promoting the denuclearization of the peninsula and the establishment of a peace mechanism, said Xi Xi.
"The bottom line is that stakeholders meet half-way, have flexibility, have a dialogue and that these discussions lead to results," he said.
The two leaders agreed that a second summit between Washington and Pyongyang and a planned visit of North Korean leader Kim to Seoul would constitute an "important step forward" in resolving the situation on the peninsula, according to the South Sudanese presidential bureau. Korean.
The South Korean presidential spokesman said that Xi was also willing to come to South Korea next year at a convenient time.
The South Korean Presidential Office has published a transcript of its briefing on the Port Moresby meeting.
Report by Ju-min Park and Soyoung Kim; Additional report by Ben Blanchard to BEIJING; Edited by Tom Hogue
