DANDONG: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un returned home on Saturday after a day-long visit to the Chinese border city of Dandong, vowing to “firmly carry forward” the friendship between the two countries, Pyongyang’s state media reported.
Kim’s visit followed the official opening of a major cross-border bridge last week, 12 years after its completion, deepening economic ties between China and diplomatically isolated North Korea.
Neither North Korea nor China disclosed Kim’s visit in advance.
In Dandong, Kim visited a memorial hall dedicated to Chinese soldiers who died fighting alongside North Korean forces in the 1950-53 Korean War, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
Kim then met Wang Huning, Beijing’s top political adviser, who accompanied him during the visit, the agency said.
“We will always remember the history when the excellent sons and daughters of the Chinese people helped our revolution… and steadily and firmly carry forward the history of the DPRK-China friendship,” Kim told Wang, using the initials of North Korea’s official name.
The aims and outcomes of Kim’s visit remained unclear, but China is North Korea’s largest trading partner and a vital source of diplomatic, economic and political support for Pyongyang.
China’s official news agency Xinhua quoted Wang as saying the visit was significant for “consolidating public goodwill towards the friendship (and) deepening political mutual trust and jointly pursuing cooperation and development”.
Wang conveyed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “cordial greetings and best wishes” to Kim.
The trip took place close to the date both countries use to mark the entry of Chinese troops into the Korean War in 1950.
Beijing sent hundreds of thousands of troops to fight alongside North Korea against US-led United Nations forces, helping prevent Pyongyang’s defeat and cementing the alliance.
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, also participated in the events, Xinhua reported.
After visiting the memorial hall, Kim toured a bus factory before returning to North Korea, KCNA reported.
In Dandong late Saturday, the bridge stood empty and the surrounding neighbourhood was quiet.
A resident, Zhao, told AFP it was “quite good” that Kim had visited, saying he believed closer relations between the two countries could ultimately benefit his city.
“When the two countries engage with each other, it will naturally benefit border cities in China economically,” said the 50-year-old driver.
“May our friendship last forever.”
Bridging a divide
The New Yalu River Bridge was completed in 2014, but its opening was delayed by a lack of connecting roads and customs facilities on the North Korean side, according to South Korean media reports.
Its opening came just over a month after North Korea and Russia opened their first road bridge.
Kim may have sought to “press China to move more quickly” on commitments agreed during Xi’s visit to North Korea this year, Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies in South Korea, told AFP.
“He may also have sought Beijing’s active support and cooperation ahead of a possible summit with (US President Donald) Trump in Shenzhen.”
Hours before South Korea’s Yonhap news agency first reported Saturday’s visit, North Korean state media said Kim had urged the military at a major meeting in Pyongyang to train to become the strongest in the world.
Kim’s call for what he dubbed a “Korean-style military revolution” came shortly after Seoul’s military proposed talks to clarify the shared border with the North, following an explosion inside the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone.
South Korea’s military proposed the talks on Friday after blaming the blast, which injured South Korean soldiers and severely strained bilateral relations, on North Korean landmines. Pyongyang strongly rejected the claim.
North Korea has not responded to the proposal and previously rejected the South’s demand for an apology over the explosion.
The two countries remain technically at war, as their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
Implicit acceptance
Despite long-running United Nations sanctions, North Korea has enshrined its status as a nuclear-armed state in law and routinely declares its nuclear arsenal permanent and irreversible.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who has repeatedly offered Pyongyang talks without preconditions, suggested in September that Washington seek a freeze on North Korea’s nuclear programme, rather than its immediate elimination, in exchange for sanctions relief.
Critics say such an approach risks tacitly accepting North Korea as a nuclear-armed state while allowing Pyongyang to secure sanctions relief without giving up its arsenal.
Analysts say China also appears to be moving towards implicit acceptance.
Kim hosted Xi in Pyongyang in June, shortly after the Chinese leader held back-to-back summits in Beijing with Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Neither Pyongyang nor Beijing mentioned North Korean denuclearisation in their official statements following the June meeting, an omission experts viewed as a sign of China’s tacit consent.