North Korea’s Kim Jung Un and China’s Xi Jinping met this week during an “unofficial” visit in Beijing. Photo courtesy of CBC.
Summary: This week, China and North Korea’s leaders discussed the two country’s friendship durin an “unofficial” meeting.
On Wednesday, China said that its president, Xi Jinping, met with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un from Sunday to Wednesday, and the two parties discussed their country’s alliance as well as North Korea’s arsenal of nuclear weapons.
According to Reuters, Kim pledged to meet with American officials soon and he promised to get rid of his nuclear weapons. China, meanwhile, stated that it wanted to uphold its friendship with North Korea, which notoriously antagonizes the United States and its President Donald Trump.
Kim’s visit to China was “unofficial,” according to Reuters, and it was the first known foreign trip for the North Korean dictator, who assumed power in 2011.
CNN stated that North Korea’s visit to China could signal that Kim is looking to build leverage when he finally meets with the United States to discuss issues such as US-North Korea sanctions and North Korea’s nuclear weapons. However, President Trump has already issued a statement on Tuesday that the Xi and Kim meeting went “well” and that he was looking forward to his meeting with Kim.
“For years and through many administrations, everyone said that peace and the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula was not even a small possibility. Now there is a good chance that Kim Jong Un will do what is right for his people and for humanity. Look forward to our meeting!” Trump tweeted.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Kim’s traveling outside of North Korea is a good sign that he wants to make positive relationships with other countries, but that the White House was still “cautiously optimistic.”
CNN reported that South Korea had no involvement with Kim’s visit to Beijing, China, and that they were monitoring what would happen next.
“What is happening now is beyond what the (government) has been predicting and (Seoul) will need to keep an eye on the situation with all possibilities in mind,” a South Korean spokesperson stated.
The Washington Post said that Kim traveled with all of his top aides and that he was visiting on the request of Xi. According to WaPo, “China and North Korea have had close ties for decades, but in recent years, the relationship has been stressed. Kim’s visit suggests an effort to repair relations ahead of Kim’s planned meetings with the South’s president, Moon Jae-in, and then U.S. President Donald Trump.”