NK leader stresses importance of friendship between Pyongyang, Beijing
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In a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un underlined the need to foster and consolidate the traditional friendship between the two countries, the North's state media said Saturday.
Choe Ryong-hae, the director of the General Political Bureau of North Korea's People's Army, delivered Kim's hand written letter to Xi at their meeting in China on Friday.
Kim's remarks are largely seen as part of a greater effort to mend fences with China after Pyongyang angered Beijing by ignoring its repeated calls to curb tensions on the peninsula and by continuing to develop its nuclear program.
"Kim Jong-un in his personal letter underlined the need to carry forward and consolidate the traditional DPRK (North Korea)-China friendship provided and cultivated by the revolutionaries of the elder generation of the two countries," according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) report monitored in Seoul.
"Xi Jinping expressed deep thanks for this (letter) and asked Choe Ryong Hae to convey his cordial greetings to Kim Jong Un," the KCNA added.
Meanwhile, Choe returned home on Friday after his meeting with the Chinese leader, it added.
The KCNA report, however, did not make mention of Choe's remarks to the Chinese president of Pyongyang's want to resume the suspended six-party talks.
According to the state Chinese media, Choe conveyed North Korea's willingness to open dialogue on the issue with "concerned parties," and Pyongyang's commitment to take active measures to ensure stability on the peninsula.
The Seoul government, however, is skeptical of the suggestion made by the unpredictable and reclusive communist nation.
"Unlike China, North Korea did not say the word 'denuclearization," a high-ranking South Korean government official said. "We have to wait a little longer and keep watch over the words and behavior of North Korea regarding nuclear issues."
The South Korean ruling Saenuri party also stressed that Pyongyang should first give up its nuclear program before restarting the process of the six-party talks.
"The six-party talks are necessary. But North Korea should first reveal its intent to denuclearize," spokeswoman Min Hyun-joo said in a press release.
North Korea walked away from the six-party nuclear disarmament talks in 2009 over disagreements on how to verify steps the North was meant to take to end its nuclear programs.
The talks involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.