- Joined
- Jun 10, 2008
- Messages
- 27,854
- Reaction score
- 12,439
Sorry if there is already a thread about this...
But if not, why not..
I thought Trump was going to be the first to chill with the lil dude..?
Kim Jong-un Met Xi Jinping in Secret Beijing Visit, China Says
Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, in Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, last year. His trip to Beijing this week was his first outside North Korea since he took power in 2011.Wong Maye-e/Associated Press
By Steven Lee Myers and Jane Perlez
March 27, 2018
BEIJING — North Korea’s enigmatic young leader, Kim Jong-un, made an unannounced visit to Beijing, meeting with President Xi Jinping weeks before planned summit meetings with American and South Korean leaders, Chinese Central TV reported on Wednesday.
The visit amounted to Mr. Kim’s international debut: It was the 34-year-old leader’s first trip outside North Korea since he took power in 2011, and his first meeting with another head of state. The surprise discussions added another layer of complexity to the rush of global diplomacy around North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
Mr. Kim’s trip unfolded in extraordinary secrecy and security; it was confirmed only after he left Beijing on the same armored train that stirred up speculation when it arrived mysteriously in the Chinese capital on Monday. (Both Mr. Kim’s father and grandfather, the North’s former leaders, used similar trains for foreign trips.)
Mr. Kim made the trip to China at the invitation of Mr. Xi, North Korea’s state-run Central TV reported soon after. Mr. Kim was accompanied by his wife, Ri Sol-ju, as well as by his senior advisers, it said.
Mr. Kim traveled to and from Beijing in a green armored train much like the one that his father, Kim Jong-il, used when he ruled the North.Jason Lee/Reuters
Even so, Mr. Yang said, that did not signal that Mr. Kim was willing to give up his nuclear arsenal, though he has told South Korean envoys that he was prepared to discuss the possibility.
“He is starting a new game where he could make concessions on denuclearization,” Mr. Yang said. “At most, he will cut the grass, but he will not pull out the roots.”
the appointment of John Bolton as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser; only a month ago, Mr. Bolton warned that a pre-emptive strike on North Korea’s arsenal would be a “perfectly legitimate” response to a threat to the American mainland.
After months of increasing political and economic pressure, North Korea’s once-defiant tone has shifted dramatically since January, for which some have credited Mr. Trump’s threats of military action.
Last month, the North sent a delegation to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, led by Mr. Kim’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, and the North’s nominal head of state, Kim Yong-nam. They put on a charm offensive that led to direct talks with the South Koreans, plans for a meeting between Mr. Kim and the South’s president, Moon Jae-in, and then an extraordinary offer to meet directly with Mr. Trump.
The meeting with Mr. Moon is set to take place next month on the Koreas’ border, while Mr. Trump is to hold his own talks with Mr. Kim by May, at a site still to be determined.
Kim Yong-nam, left, North Korea’s nominal head of state, and Kim Yo-jong, the sister of the North Korean leader, with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, right, in Seoul, South Korea, in February. The North Koreans’ visit led to direct talks with the South Koreans.Bae Jae-Man/Yonhap, via Associated Press
Now, with no prior fanfare, Mr. Xi has become the first major foreign leader to meet Mr. Kim.
Their meeting may help ease tensionsbetween China and the North after years of deepening rancor. China supports the international efforts to rein in the North’s nuclear weapons development, but experts say it also wants to keep the North as a stable buffer on its northeast border.
Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, said that despite the recent strains in the relationship, it was not surprising that the North Koreans would turn to China at this moment — one that would be pivotal for any leader, let alone one as untested as Mr. Kim.
“Kim Jong-un is now in a most difficult economic situation, and he faces a gamble to meet Trump,” Mr. Shi said.
Since Mr. Kim took power after his father’s death more than six years ago, Chinese officials and experts have become increasingly disdainful of him for ignoring Beijing’s entreaties to halt his nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests.
backed increasingly stringent United Nations sanctions that have reduced the North’s exports of coal, seafood and other goods to China.
Mr. Kim’s Beijing visit underscores the historic bonds between the two countries, forged in shared experiences of war and Communist revolution.
Security officers on Tuesday outside the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, where the North Korean delegation is believed to have stayed. Neither China nor North Korea acknowledged Kim Jong-un’s visit until it was over.Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press
China backed North Korean forces in the Korean War of 1950-53, during which hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers died. Mr. Kim may be following an example set by his father, Kim Jong-il, in appealing to those ties after a period of tension.
The elder Mr. Kim’s first visit to China — in 2000 — also came roughly six years after he took power, and shortly before a planned summit meeting with South Korea. Before then, China and North Korea had gone through years of strain after Beijing established diplomatic relations with Seoul in 1992.
But if not, why not..
I thought Trump was going to be the first to chill with the lil dude..?
Kim Jong-un Met Xi Jinping in Secret Beijing Visit, China Says
Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, in Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, last year. His trip to Beijing this week was his first outside North Korea since he took power in 2011.Wong Maye-e/Associated Press
By Steven Lee Myers and Jane Perlez
March 27, 2018
BEIJING — North Korea’s enigmatic young leader, Kim Jong-un, made an unannounced visit to Beijing, meeting with President Xi Jinping weeks before planned summit meetings with American and South Korean leaders, Chinese Central TV reported on Wednesday.
The visit amounted to Mr. Kim’s international debut: It was the 34-year-old leader’s first trip outside North Korea since he took power in 2011, and his first meeting with another head of state. The surprise discussions added another layer of complexity to the rush of global diplomacy around North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
Mr. Kim’s trip unfolded in extraordinary secrecy and security; it was confirmed only after he left Beijing on the same armored train that stirred up speculation when it arrived mysteriously in the Chinese capital on Monday. (Both Mr. Kim’s father and grandfather, the North’s former leaders, used similar trains for foreign trips.)
Mr. Kim made the trip to China at the invitation of Mr. Xi, North Korea’s state-run Central TV reported soon after. Mr. Kim was accompanied by his wife, Ri Sol-ju, as well as by his senior advisers, it said.
Mr. Kim traveled to and from Beijing in a green armored train much like the one that his father, Kim Jong-il, used when he ruled the North.Jason Lee/Reuters
Even so, Mr. Yang said, that did not signal that Mr. Kim was willing to give up his nuclear arsenal, though he has told South Korean envoys that he was prepared to discuss the possibility.
“He is starting a new game where he could make concessions on denuclearization,” Mr. Yang said. “At most, he will cut the grass, but he will not pull out the roots.”
the appointment of John Bolton as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser; only a month ago, Mr. Bolton warned that a pre-emptive strike on North Korea’s arsenal would be a “perfectly legitimate” response to a threat to the American mainland.
After months of increasing political and economic pressure, North Korea’s once-defiant tone has shifted dramatically since January, for which some have credited Mr. Trump’s threats of military action.
Last month, the North sent a delegation to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, led by Mr. Kim’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, and the North’s nominal head of state, Kim Yong-nam. They put on a charm offensive that led to direct talks with the South Koreans, plans for a meeting between Mr. Kim and the South’s president, Moon Jae-in, and then an extraordinary offer to meet directly with Mr. Trump.
The meeting with Mr. Moon is set to take place next month on the Koreas’ border, while Mr. Trump is to hold his own talks with Mr. Kim by May, at a site still to be determined.
Kim Yong-nam, left, North Korea’s nominal head of state, and Kim Yo-jong, the sister of the North Korean leader, with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, right, in Seoul, South Korea, in February. The North Koreans’ visit led to direct talks with the South Koreans.Bae Jae-Man/Yonhap, via Associated Press
Now, with no prior fanfare, Mr. Xi has become the first major foreign leader to meet Mr. Kim.
Their meeting may help ease tensionsbetween China and the North after years of deepening rancor. China supports the international efforts to rein in the North’s nuclear weapons development, but experts say it also wants to keep the North as a stable buffer on its northeast border.
Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, said that despite the recent strains in the relationship, it was not surprising that the North Koreans would turn to China at this moment — one that would be pivotal for any leader, let alone one as untested as Mr. Kim.
“Kim Jong-un is now in a most difficult economic situation, and he faces a gamble to meet Trump,” Mr. Shi said.
Since Mr. Kim took power after his father’s death more than six years ago, Chinese officials and experts have become increasingly disdainful of him for ignoring Beijing’s entreaties to halt his nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests.
backed increasingly stringent United Nations sanctions that have reduced the North’s exports of coal, seafood and other goods to China.
Mr. Kim’s Beijing visit underscores the historic bonds between the two countries, forged in shared experiences of war and Communist revolution.
Security officers on Tuesday outside the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, where the North Korean delegation is believed to have stayed. Neither China nor North Korea acknowledged Kim Jong-un’s visit until it was over.Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press
China backed North Korean forces in the Korean War of 1950-53, during which hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers died. Mr. Kim may be following an example set by his father, Kim Jong-il, in appealing to those ties after a period of tension.
The elder Mr. Kim’s first visit to China — in 2000 — also came roughly six years after he took power, and shortly before a planned summit meeting with South Korea. Before then, China and North Korea had gone through years of strain after Beijing established diplomatic relations with Seoul in 1992.
