BREAKING: Kim Makes Secret Visit to China - Does He Want to Reunify the Koran Peninsula?
Kim Jong-un left North Korea for the first time since assuming his post to visit China. The unofficial visit was kept under strict secret for 3 days. Details surfaced only today, when the DPRK leader returned home.
Why did Kim Jong-un seek a meeting with Xi Jinping and what agreements were reached? Our correspondent in China, Anastasiya Sakhovskaya, reporting.
The world was shocked when it saw, and more so when it heard: "DPRK is lowering the tension, the stance is consistent and won't change." Such peaceful intonations were never before heard from Kim Jong-un. He's ready to meet with Trump and is prepared to make peace with the South at the inter-Korean summit but is waiting for his opponents to respond.
Kim Jong-un: "The Korean Peninsula denuclearization problem may be resolved if South Korea and the US react to our efforts, as well as create the atmosphere of peace and stability".
Beijing sees and appreciates Pyongyang's efforts and proposes to switch to a detailed dialog on nuclear disarmament. Bilateral relations will take a peaceful path from youth interaction to high-level contacts. Setting a personal example, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un exchanged invitations.
Xi Jinping: "We're ready with our North Korean comrades to look forward while respecting history and move in the direction of consistently developing relations with a long-term perspective. We're also ready to invest in peace, stability, and development in the region".
Even if unofficial, this is Kim Jong-un's first foreign visit in all his 7 years in power. The meeting was kept secret but not from everyone, as it turns out. Beijing informed Washington and Seoul knew about the negotiations in advance, Tokyo awaits explanations.
Shinzō Abe, Japan's Prime Minister: "It's not about dialog for the sake of dialog but about reaching a full and non-reversible nuclear and rocket disarmament. We must keep the current sanctions in place until North Korea takes specific actions".
Baek Tae-hyun, Ministry of Unification spokesperson: "I believe that improving relations between North Korea and China shortly before the inter-Korean summit and the US-North Korea summit will be helpful in denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and in establishing peace".
Tomorrow in Seoul, Yang Jiechi, China's State Council member, will personally report to South Korean leadership on the results of negotiations in Beijing. The media is already calling the meeting historic, a visit of friendship and courtesy in the new era of North Korean-Chinese relations, and is closely analyzing every gesture made by the leaders.
Anastasiya Sakhovskaya, Mikhail Artukhin, Beijing's Vesti office.