By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter



North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, left, shakes hands with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Great Hall of the People in Beijing in this photo captured from Chinese television, Wednesday. /AP-Yonhap


North Korean leader Kim Jong-il asked for a joint effort with China’s President Hu Jintao to overcome ``difficulties’’ in the six-party talks, the North’s official news agency reported on Wednesday.
The North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) confirmed that Kim, who was in China on an ``unofficial visit’’ at Hu’s invitation from Jan. 10 to 18, held a summit with Hu in Beijing on Tuesday.

Official news media in China and North Korea did not report whether the summit agenda included Washington’s financial sanctions against North Korea.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Seoul issued a press release, expressing its hope that Kim’s visit would help develop North Korea’s economy and contribute to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia.

During the meeting with Kim, Hu described the six-party talks as an ``efficient mechanism’’ to solve the nuclear deadlock appropriately.

``Hu reiterated China’s principled stance, noting that it is a correct choice to properly settle the relevant problems by peaceful means through dialogue,’’ China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported.

In return, Kim said there is no change in North Korea’s basic stance of maintaining a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

``There is no change in North Korea’s basic stand of maintaining the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, implementing the joint principle statement issued at the fourth round of the six-party talks (in September) and pursuing a negotiated peaceful settlement,’’ the KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

Kim, however, mentioned ``difficulties,’’ which are believed to indicate Washington’s financial sanctions, which the U.S. imposed in September after accusing North Korea of counterfeiting U.S. dollars.

Pyongyang declared in November that it would not attend the talks unless the United States lifts the sanctions and respects the spirit of the joint statement, in which the North promised to abandon its nuclear weapons programs in exchange for security guarantees from the five other countries and diplomatic and economic benefits.

During his stay in China, Kim visited China’s booming commercial cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Zhuhai, the KCNA said.

Kim is expected to use the development models of those cities to try to revitalize its special economic zone in Sinuiju, in the northwest of North Korea, according to many North Korea experts, including former Unification Minister Park Jae-kyu.

The North Korean leader said during a speech at a welcoming ceremony in Beijing that Beijing’s ``correct’’ policy made it possible for China to achieve rapid economic development.

``Rapid development in southern China left a deep and indelible impression on us,’’ Kim told Hu, according to KCNA. ``In a word, we are confident through our tour of southern China that the future of China is bright due to the correct policy of the Chinese Communist Party.’’

It was Kim’s fourth visit to China since the first in May 2002.

im@koreatimes.co.kr