Xi Jinping Meets North Korean Premier Park Tae-sung in Beijing, Resuming High-Level Exchanges After a Month

[Financial News] Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Park Tae-sung, the North Korean premier, who was on an official visit to China.
On the 10th, foreign media reported that Xi received Park at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing that afternoon. Xi continued bilateral exchanges by meeting a senior North Korean official again just a month after the North Korea-China summit held in Pyongyang on Aug. 8-9 last month. The meeting is expected to review cooperation discussed at the summit and address pending issues between the two countries.
Park arrived in Beijing with the North Korean delegation on an Air Koryo flight on Tuesday morning to attend events marking the 65th anniversary of the signing of the friendship treaty on July 11. He will make an official three-day visit to China through the 12th. After arriving in Beijing, Park stayed at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, China's state guesthouse, before visiting Tiananmen Square in the afternoon to lay a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes.
It was the first time in seven years that a senior North Korean official laid a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes in China, since a delegation led by then-North Korean military political chief Kim Su-gil visited in August 2019. On July 11, 1961, Zhou Enlai, then Premier of China, and Kim Il Sung, then Chairman of North Korea, signed a friendship treaty in Beijing. The treaty included an automatic intervention clause under which one side would provide military support if the other came under external armed attack.
Earlier, Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, said the previous day regarding Park's visit to China, "The two sides have agreed to jointly hold grand events marking the 65th anniversary of the signing of the North Korea-China friendship treaty," adding, "Based on the important consensus reached by the top leaders of the two countries, we will strengthen strategic communication and continue to develop the traditional North Korea-China friendship through close exchanges and cooperation."


unsaid@fnnews.com Kang Myung-yeon Reporter