BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday he hopes Pyongyang and Washington can fully implement the outcome of last week’s nuclear summit at which Kim pledged to work toward denuclearization in exchange for US security guarantees.
State broadcaster CCTV said Xi told Kim that through the “concerted efforts of the relevant countries” negotiations regarding issues on the Korean Peninsula are back on track and the overall situation is moving in the direction of peace and stability.
The summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Singapore marked an “important step toward the political solution of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue,” Xi was quoted as saying in the meeting at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing.
China hopes North Korea and the US can “implement well the outcomes achieved at the summit,” Xi said. China would “as always play a constructive role” in that process, he said.
Along with a statement signed by Kim and Trump offering vague commitments to denuclearization and security, Trump also agreed to suspend military exercises with South Korea in what was seen as a major win for North Korea and its chief allies, China and Russia.
Kim’s two-day visit to China, which began Tuesday, had not been announced in advance but was expected as part of the Communist neighbors’ tradition to report to each other on major developments.
The visit is Kim’s third to China since March, highlighting China’s crucial role in efforts by the US and others to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear program. The US has long looked to China to use its influence with North Korea to bring it to negotiations, but the visit comes as ties between Beijing and Washington are being tested by a major trade dispute.
