Xi Jinping Returns Home Today After Second-Day Talks with Kim Jong Un... Interest Grows Over Whether North Korea's Nuclear Issue, Omitted on the First Day, Will Be Raised

[Financial News] Xi Jinping, who visited North Korea for the first time in seven years, is expected to hold a second summit with Kim Jong Un on the 9th. Attention is focused on whether the North Korean nuclear issue, which was left out of the first meeting the previous day, will be discussed. In their summit the day before, the two leaders emphasized stronger exchanges in areas including diplomacy, law enforcement, and the military. They also raised anti-hegemonism, which opposes Western alliances, even before the talks began. However, there was no discussion of denuclearization, which the United States and South Korea had hoped for.
There is also analysis that, during the process of coordinating this visit, China implicitly agreed with North Korea's firm position that denuclearization could not be discussed.
The idea is that Xi does not need to bring up North Korea's denuclearization issue and disrupt the friendly atmosphere between China and North Korea.
At a banquet held the previous evening at Mokran House in Pyongyang, Xi delivered a reply speech and said, "The two countries of China and Korea have always shared their destiny, and the traditional friendship between China and Korea is an invincible friendship with a long history."
In his welcoming remarks, Kim stressed, "We will lead the friendship between Korea and China to a new height and develop it into a model of the strongest and most strategic relationship between socialist countries."
A performance welcoming Xi was also held at Pyongyang Gymnasium, where Kim and other North Korean leaders watched the show together with the Chinese delegation. The performance featured songs from North Korea and China, as well as acrobatic acts.
On the second day of his visit, Xi is expected to visit the Sino-Korean Friendship Tower in Pyongyang, a symbol of friendship between the two countries, and pay tribute there. The Friendship Tower, built in 1959 at the foot of Moran Hill in Pyongyang, commemorates Chinese soldiers who died in the Korean War. Xi also laid flowers there in 2008, when he visited North Korea as vice president, and again in 2019, his first visit after taking power. He is then expected to head to Pyongyang International Airport, also known as Pyongyang Sunan International Airport, in the afternoon and depart for home on his private jet. Kim is also expected to see him off at the airport, as he did when Xi arrived.


rainman@fnnews.com Kim Kyung-soo Reporter