North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and China’s Xi Jinping agreed to expand cooperation in the areas of politics, economy, and culture at a summit in Pyongyang that opened a new chapter in ties, the North’s official KCNA news agency said on Tuesday.
Making his first visit in seven years to China’s only formal treaty ally, Xi told Kim he aimed to drive progress in ties, with both agreeing to strive for closer strategic communication through visits by high-level officials, KCNA said.
Kim told Xi he would fully support the “One China principle,” which Beijing views as meaning that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one country, regardless of changes in the international situation, it added.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under Beijing’s control, although Taipei rejects the sovereignty claims.
Despite the expressions of goodwill, however, analysts saw contrasting priorities in the official summaries of the visit.
While China’s official Xinhua news agency detailed proposals ranging from high-level exchanges to trade and agriculture, along with restoration of transport links, KCNA cast the summit more broadly as a pact of equal partners, the analysts said.
A ‘special relationship,’ rewritten relationship on equal footing
Pyongyang stressed regime dignity and the neighbors’ “special relationship,” added Lim Eul-chul, a professor at South Korea’s Kyungnam University, while Beijing emphasized practical state-to-state ties and its initiatives for international order.
“North Korea removed elements that could make it look like a subordinate, dependent or beneficiary party, and rewrote the relationship as one between equals,” said Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
“It amplified signals of solidarity, such as anti-US and Taiwan-related messages, while erasing signals of dependence or subordination.”
It was not immediately clear if the leaders plan further talks on Tuesday, when South Korean media said Xi is likely to visit the Sino-Korean Friendship Tower in Pyongyang, which commemorates Chinese soldiers who died in the Korean War.
A performance of Chinese, Korean patriotic songs
Xi and first lady Peng Liyuan attended a performance of Chinese and North Korean songs, accompanied by Kim and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, along with high-ranking officials.
The songs showcased patriotism, revolutionary spirit, and national sentiment to highlight “the value and closeness of DPRK-China friendship,” KCNA said, referring to the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Kim also hosted a banquet for Xi and his delegation, at which Xi voiced his desire to “share friendship” with Kim and thanked the North for its welcome, the news agency said.
Chinese-North Korean relations had reached a “new historical starting point,” Xi said at the event marking the 65th anniversary of the neighbors’ friendship treaty, KCNA added.
Xi vowed that Beijing would not swerve from its commitment to safeguard common interests, Xinhua said on Monday.
North Korean media did not say if Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program or relations with the United States figured in the talks.
Parts of the official Chinese summary of the visit suggested Xi may be frustrated that Kim does not reach out enough to develop “political mutual trust,” said Sydney Seiler, a former US special envoy for six-party talks.
Other factors could be that reform and economic opening remain unacceptable to Pyongyang, which refuses to learn from China’s development experience, added Seiler, who is now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
During his first term, US President Donald Trump met Kim three times before the unprecedented diplomatic effort broke down over US demands for North Korea to give up nuclear weapons. Trump has said he would be willing to restart talks.
“While it is highly likely that the leaders of China and North Korea would confer before Kim might meet Trump again, it is doubtful that Xi will serve as a catalyst for US-North Korea talks,” said Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
China is North Korea’s biggest trade partner, and analysts have said the Xi trip could focus on trade and tourism.
Xi is set to return to China on Tuesday, the Yonhap news agency said.
