[Yonhap News Photo]
SEOUL -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their second summit in about 40 days, with Kim voicing his commitment to denuclearization, state media said, ahead of an anticipated summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The second summit between Kim and Xi in the northern Chinese city of Dalian on Monday and Tuesday appeared to highlight efforts by the allies to restore ties that have been chilled by the North's nuclear and missile development.
Kim held his first summit with Xi in March in Beijing, marking the first meeting since Kim took power in late 2011. Some analysts have said China also wants to keep its influence on North Korea amid diplomatic efforts by Seoul and Washington to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Xinhua quoted Kim as saying North Korea would give up its nuclear weapons program if "relevant parties" drop hostile policies against Pyongyang.
"As long as relevant parties abolish their hostile policies and remove security threats against the DPRK, there is no need for the DPRK to be a nuclear state and denuclearization can be realized," Xinhua quoted Kim as telling Xi. The remarks were not seen in reports by North Korea's state media about the summit.
Ko Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, said the remarks by Kim may indicate that he wants to resolve hostile relations with the United States as well as with South Korea and Japan. Also, Kim may want security guarantees from a multilateral regime that also includes China and Russia, Ko said.
"This visit by Kim to China is aimed at putting its priority on China as an important guarantor for (North Korean) regime security," Ko said.
Kim and Xi "had an all-round and in-depth exchange of views on China-DPRK relations and major issues of common concern," Xinhua said. The North's state broadcaster also reported on the second summit between Kim and Xi in the northeastern city of Dalian.
The second summit between Kim and Xi came amid a flurry of top-level diplomacy over the North's nuclear weapons program. Kim is expected to hold an unprecedented summit with Trump late this month or early next month.
During the talks with Xi, Kim voiced his hope that Pyongyang and Washington "would build mutual trust through dialogue and the relevant sides would take phased and synchronous measures in a responsible manner so as to comprehensively advance the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue and eventually achieve denuclearization and lasting peace on the peninsula," the report said.'
Xi said the momentum of dialogue and alleviation of tension on the peninsula is being consolidated in the direction that is conducive to a political solution, it said.
(Yonhap)
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
