SEOUL: North Korea sent one of its top military officials as a “special envoy” from its leader Kim Jong-un to Beijing on Wednesday, accompanied by a high-powered delegation in what appeared to be a bid to mend frayed relations with its most important ally.
The delegation led by Choe Ryong-hae, vice chairman of the country’s top military body, was the most senior to visit China since Kim’s kingmaker uncle Jang Song-thaek made the trip in August 2012.
Ties between Pyongyang and Beijing have been hurt by the North’s third nuclear test, carried out in February, and by China agreeing to UN sanctions on the North and starting to put a squeeze on North Korean banks.
North Korean state news agency KCNA said China’s ambassador to Pyongyang, who is seen as the closest of all foreign envoys to Kim Jong-un, saw the delegation off at the airport.
Choe’s first meeting in Beijing was with Wang Jiarui, head of the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s International Department, China’s Xinhua news agency said, without providing details.
The diplomatic move by North Korea came after Japan reached out to Pyongyang last week by sending a special envoy to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to hold talks over Japanese citizens abducted by the isolated and impoverished state.
Choe is one of the tight coterie of officials around Kim Jong-un, who has been in power for just over a year after succeeding his father. He is a long-time political administrator and was surprisingly made a vice marshal in the army last year despite having no military background.
Jang’s trip in 2012 had been aimed at securing a visit for Kim to Beijing and to win investment for the North’s shattered economy, although it appeared to have failed, according to diplomats. “It is an important visit as there have been no high level contacts between the two countries for such a long time,” said Jin Canrong, associate dean of the School of International Studies at Renmin University in Beijing. (Reuters)
