BEIJING: China told an envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that Pyongyang should stop conducting nuclear and missile tests, but the North showed little sign of heeding the request, said a source with knowledge of the talks held late last month.
Kim dispatched Choe Ryong-hae, Vice Chairman of the country’s top military body, to explain North Korea’s recent actions but he got a lukewarm reception from his Chinese hosts, said the source, who has close ties to Beijing and Pyongyang.
North Korea’s 30-year-old leader took power in December 2011 and has carried out two long-range rocket launches and a nuclear weapons test since then. He also embarked on a months-long campaign of threats against South Korea and the United States.
“(North) Korea has not mellowed,” said the source, who did not attend the meetings but has since spoken to both sides to which he has regular access.
Choe, nominally a general but with no known military experience, is the Korean People’s Army’s top ideologue. He showed up in Beijing in full military regalia, in contrast to his suited Chinese counterparts.
Experts have said the three-day visit was an attempt by North Korea to mend fences with its only major diplomatic ally, which has been critical of Pyongyang.
After the meetings, in which Choe eventually held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korea promised to take “positive steps for peace” while China repeated its mantra of wanting “calm and restraint” on the Korean peninsula.
Beijing tried to convince Pyongyang to stop its nuclear and missile tests, which “put China in a difficult position and are not conducive to (North) Korea”, the source said. China advised North Korea to focus on rebuilding its ruined economy instead, something it has said before.
North Korea’s belligerence has drawn international condemnation and put Beijing under pressure, especially from Washington, to rein in Pyongyang.
It also helped reinforce an American strategy of rebalancing its security policies toward the Asia-Pacific.
China is North Korea’s biggest trade partner and aid donor. Choe was shown a special enterprise zone during his visit, but he did not raise the issue of aid during his talks, the source added.
China has backed North Korea since Mao Zedong sent Chinese troops to bolster Communist forces under then North Korean leader Kim Il-sung — Kim Jong-un’s grandfather - during the 950-53 Korean war.
The nuclear and rocket tests and verbal threats were partly aimed at forcing the United States and South Korea to sign a permanent peace treaty with North Korea to replace the armistice agreement that ended that conflict, the source said.
China has repeatedly urged North Korea to return to the so-called six-party talks, which are aimed at getting Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.
In 2009, Pyongyang said it would never return to the talks, which also included South Korea, the US, Japan and Russia.
North Korea would instead seek bilateral talks with the various parties first, said the source, without elaborating.
Abandoning its nuclear weapons programme could not be a prerequisite for talks, Choe told his hosts.
That makes talks with Washington a non-starter since US officials say North Korea must take meaningful steps on denuclearisation before there can be dialogue.
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