Xi told Kim China hopes US, N. Korea will 'meet halfway': Xinhua
BEIJING, China — Chinese President Xi Jinping told Kim Jong Un the Korean peninsula faces a "rare historic opportunity" as he backed the North Korean leader's planned denuclearisation summit with US President Donald Trump, at which he hopes the pair will "meet each other halfway", state media reported Thursday.
The two allies held two days of talks in Beijing this week seen as a strategy session as Kim prepares for his second meeting with Trump, with denuclearisation talks making little progress since the first historic US-North Korean summit.
Kim's fourth visit to China in the past year shows that Beijing -- the North's sole major ally -- retains a vital role in the diplomatic shuffle despite past tensions between the Cold War-era allies.
"Political settlement of the Korean peninsula issue faces a rare historic opportunity," Xi said, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The Chinese leader said "major progress" was made last year to reach a political solution with joint efforts from China, North Korea and other nations, and the international community expects dialogue to continue.
Discussions between the US and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal have stalled since Kim and Trump's high-profile first summit in Singapore in June where they issued a vaguely worded declaration about denuclearisation.
The US insists that UN sanctions must remain in place until North Korea gives up its weapons, while Pyongyang wants them immediately eased.
China -- North Korea's sole major ally and main trade partner -- also wants the sanctions to be relaxed.
China "supports the DPRK and the United States holding summits and achieving results, and supports relevant parties resolving their respective legitimate concerns through dialogue", Xi said, using the initials of North Korea's official name.
"China hopes that the DPRK and the United States will meet each other halfway," Xi said.
He added that China stands ready to play a "positive and constructive role" to maintain peace and stability and achieve denuclearisation on the peninsula.
For his part, Kim said North Korea "will continue sticking to the stance of denuclearisation and resolving the Korean peninsula issue through dialogue and consultation", Xinhua reported.
The North, Kim said, will "make efforts for the second summit between DPRK and US leaders to achieve results that will be welcomed by the international community".
Trump said Sunday that the United States and North Korea are negotiating the location of their next summit.
In a New Year speech, Kim warned that Pyongyang may change its approach to nuclear talks if Washington persists with sanctions.
Birthday banquet
Relations between China and North Korea had deteriorated in recent years over Pyongyang's nuclear activities.
But ties appear to have warmed, with Kim meeting Xi three times last year, ensuring that his ally remained informed about his dealings with the United States and South Korea.
Xi greeted Kim at Beijing's ornate Great Hall of the People on Tuesday -- believed to be the North Korean leader's birthday.
Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan hosted a welcome banquet for Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju and they watched an art performance together, according to Xinhua.
Kim visited a pharmaceutical plant that makes traditional Chinese medicine on Wednesday and met Xi again for lunch at a hotel before heading back to North Korea by train.
South Korean officials were briefing the White House Thursday on the outcome of their pathfinding meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Seoul has already publicized that North Korea offered talks with the United States on denuclearization and normalizing ties, a potential diplomatic opening after a year of escalating tensions over the North's nuclear and missile tests. The rival Koreas also agreed to hold a leadership summit in late April.
Top Trump administration officials were getting a chance to hear firsthand from South Korean national security director, Chung Eui-yong, who led the delegation that went to Pyongyang. — Associated Press
South Korea's defense ministry says Thursday it was "closely monitoring" a North Korean nuclear reactor site after local media reported its operations had been temporarily suspended, potentially to extract weapons-grade plutonium.
The Donga Ilbo newspaper reports earlier in the day that intelligence sources in Seoul and Washington had detected signs the five-megawatt reactor in Yongbyon had temporarily stopped operations late last month.
The suspension could be an indication that spent fuel rods are being reprocessed to extract plutonium for use in nuclear weapons, the report cited a government source as saying. — AFP
State media reports that North Korea's rubber-stamp legislature has enshrined the country's status as a nuclear weapons power in the constitution.
"The DPRK's nuclear force-building policy has been made permanent as the basic law of the state, which no one is allowed to flout with anything," leader Kim Jong Un said at a meeting of the State People's Assembly that was held Tuesday and Wednesday, the KCNA news agency says.
DPRK is the acronym for the country's formal name. — AFP
State news agency KCNA reports that North Korea announced it had built a "tactical nuclear attack submarine" as part of its effort to strengthen its naval force.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over the unveiling ceremony on Wednesday, saying the new sub was part of a "push forward with the nuclear weaponization of the Navy in the future", according to KCNA.
The launching of submarine No. 841, named the Hero Kim Kun Ok, "heralded the beginning of a new chapter for bolstering up the naval force of the DPRK", the KCNA report said, referring to the country by the abbreviation of its formal name. — AFP
State-controlled media reports Sunday that North Korea staged a "simulated tactical nuclear attack" drill at the weekend with mock atomic warheads attached to two long-range cruise missiles that were test-fired into the ocean.
The Korean Central News Agency says the operation early Saturday was a "counteraction drill" in response to joint military activity by US and South Korean forces that KCNA said has escalated tensions in the region.
"A firing drill for simulated tactical nuclear attack was conducted at dawn of September 2 to warn the enemies of the actual nuclear war danger," KCNA reports. — AFP
Seoul's military says North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles off its west coast on Saturday, the latest in a string of recent Pyongyang military actions.
The launches come three days after the North launched a pair of short-range ballistic missiles as part of a "tactical nuclear strike drill" prompted by the annual US-South Korean Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises, which always infuriate the reclusive regime.
Pyongyang views such the drills as a rehearsal for invasion while the two allies say they are defensive in nature. — AFP
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