N. Korea's Kim likely conditioned China visit on dropping denuclearization call: minister
Unification Minister Chung Dong-young speaks during a session of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee at the National Assembly in Seoul, Aug. 20. Yonhap
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may have demanded that China make no mention of a goal of denuclearizing his country as a condition for his attendance at the recent military parade in Beijing, South Korea's unification minister said Monday.
Minister Chung Dong-young raised the possibility during a parliamentary session after Kim's rare trip to China last week.
During the trip, Kim attended a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II on Wednesday, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Chinese and Russian presidents in a show of trilateral solidarity to the world.
Kim also held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but the outcome contained no reference to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, a major departure from the four summits they held between 2018 and 2019, when Beijing consistently called for it.
"I presume that (Kim) may have strongly demanded no mention of denuclearization as a condition for his attendance (at the military parade)," Chung noted.
He said from North Korea's perspective, Kim's attendance at the event may have represented "a significant symbolic diplomatic accomplishment."
"He may have appeared at the event out of confidence that (North Korea) is a nuclear-armed country," Chung added.
The minister also said the results of the Kim-Xi talks suggested North Korea's pledge of support for what he described as China's potential invasion of Taiwan.
According to the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency, Kim pledged during the meeting to support China's stand and efforts to "defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interests."
"In other words, this can be translated as a pledge of support for a (potential) invasion of Taiwan," the minister said.