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President Hu in DPRK pushes for talks and reform
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-10-30 09:41
Chinese President Hu Jintao spent a second day in North Korea, gently pushing
Kim Jong-Il to stay at the nuclear negotiating table and engage in bolder
economic reforms.
Chinese President Hu Jintao (L) talks with
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il at a banquet in Pyongyang. Hu spent a
second day in North Korea, gently pushing Kim to stay at the nuclear
negotiating table and engage in bolder economic reforms.
[AFP] |
"I had frank, sincere and deep talks
with General Secretary Kim Jong-Il yesterday," Hu told Kim Yong-Nam, the
nation's number two.
"We reached an important consensus," Hu was quoted as saying by China's
Xinhua news agency
Hu was not quoted as elaborating on the consensus, but the agreement have
included a promise by Kim Jong-Il, made on Friday, to participate in six-nation
talks on North Korea's nuclear program.
"The DPRK will honor its commitments and attend the fifth round of talks as
scheduled," Kim told Hu according to the China Daily, using North Korea's
official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The fifth round of six-party talks involving the two Koreas, China, Japan,
Russia and the United States is expected in Beijing in November.
Hu's three-day visit, his first to North Korea as China's leader, may be of
particular significance, coming just weeks before he goes to South Korea, said
Dae-Sook Suh, an expert on Korean affairs at the University of Hawaii.
"His mission to Pyongyang, perhaps, is to offer substantial Sino-South Korea
economic guarantees to North Korea to persuade Kim Jong-Il to relax in his
negotiation with the United States and Japan," he said.
At the last round of six-nation talks in September, North Korea agreed to a
statement of principles under which it would give up its nuclear weapons program
in return for energy and security guarantees.
But soon after agreeing to the statement, Pyongyang said it would not
dismantle its nuclear arsenal before the United States supplies it with a
light-water atomic reactor to generate electricity.
The United States says North Korea, a self-avowed nuclear power, must first
disarm before getting incentive bonuses, including the nuclear reactor.
Saturday afternoon Hu visited an experimental farm outside Pyongyang, Chinese
state television said, showing footage of him dancing with well-fed children
from a kindergarten at the facility.
"We're so happy to see how your production has developed and how your lives
have improved," Hu was shown telling a smiling farmer on TV.
"The important thing is to make your country even better under the leadership
of General Secretary Kim Jong-Il, and we hope your lives will be even happier."
While North Korea's nuclear program is expected to top the agenda during Hu's
trip, economic reform in the country is likely to come in a close second,
observers said.
Hu himself broached the sensitive subject at a banquet held in his honor late
Friday, touting the economic achievements brought about by reform in China,
without directly telling his hosts to emulate its giant neighbor.
"We have constantly perfected the socialist system, while exploring and
developing socialism with Chinese characteristics," Hu said in a speech
published by China's state-run Xinhua news agency.
"It has profoundly changed the face of China, causing an uninterrupted rise
in the productive capacity, the overall national strength and the standard of
living of the people," he said.
North Korea has kicked off cautious reform in recent years.
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