The recent two reports on the visit of Kim Jong-un, the ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's alleged heir, to China and the Chinese government's subsequent denial of the incident, twice, reveal two obvious things; journalists make mistakes and China has credibility problem, Chosun Ilbo reported Friday.
The Japanese Asahi newspaper on June 10 reported that Jong-un made a secret visit to China and met with senior Chinese officials, in an apparent move by North Korea to "introduce" the new heir to the Chinese leadership.
China's foreign ministry, however, denied it, saying the report was a fiction, "like a James Bond movie."
A few days later, the British Financial Times yet again reported that Jong-un indeed made a visit to China, citing "military, intelligence and diplomatic sources."
That report was again torpedoed by the Chinese foreign ministry. A spokesman of the ministry characterized it a product of "obsession" by media on the reclusive country. He also used the old Chinese expression of "zouhuo rumo" to discredit the report. The Chinese expression indicates a mentally dysfunctional state, in which one believes something that is not real.
"If you still don't understand this Asian expression, then I will state it as clearly as possible one more time _ as if to make a hole into a piece of paper," said the spokesman Qin Gang. He then said: "The visit didn't happen."
"Watching the verbal wrestling makes me disheartened," said Park Seung-joon, a veteran South Korean reporter, who previously worked as the newspaper's China correspondent for three times.
"To be frank, even a newspaper with global reputation is not entirely free from misreporting. But on the other hand, the real problem that made Beijing 'the city of rumors' where nothing can be confirmed about North Korea, lies with the Chinese government," he said.
For example, he said, "China didn't report a single line when Kim Jong-il previously visited China. It was known to the outside world only when South Korean and Japanese reporters tenaciously pursued it. Such a pattern happened more than once."
"What is key here," Park said, is that "although China habitually says its relationship with North Korea is a normal nation-to-nation relationship, in fact that relationship is not normal."
"China is a country that repeatedly said denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is its consistent policy. But in fact, it wasn't too displeased when North Korea conducted nuclear tests twice. Furthermore, China is the country that is holding back the efforts of other nations that want to impose sanctions on North Korea," Park said.
Park then concluded that the China-North Korean relationship could be defined as a "furtive affinity liaison," adding China critically helped North Korea to have a smooth father-to-son transition of power from the late Kim Il-sung to the incumbent Kim Jong-il.
"The reports by Asahi and the Financial Times may turn out to be misplaced. But the fact that the Financial Times reported it even after the Chinese government said the earlier similar report by Asahi was not true, reveals the widespread belief (among foreign journalists) that 'the Chinese government is a liar'," he said.
"The fundamental problem is that the Chinese government has not been faithful in reporting what happened, causing Asahi to craft a "fiction," and the Financial Times to "confuse reality," Park said.