North Korea's Kim Jong-il has been confirmed visiting Beijing to learn about the economic advancement made by China amidst its socialist principles still intact, Premier Wen Jiabio said. Mr Wen made the comments in a meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and Japan's Naoto Kan in a recent summit, , Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.
Pyongyang's leader Mr Kim arrived in Yangzhou in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu yesterday on the third day of his trip. Reports from Bloomberg News TV said this is the third time that the North Korean leader has visited ally and benefactor China. This time the country might be seeking more aid and trade to prop up the economy of North Korea now beset by international sanctions and prolonged dry season.
According to Seoul's IBK Economic Research Institute research fellow Cho Bong Hyun, North Korea would want an acceleration of China's investment in North Korea and seek Beijing's support for its nuclear program. North Korea's trade with China jumped 30 percent last year even after the United Nations stepped up sanctions following its second nuclear test in May 2009, according to China's commerce ministry. Mr Kim's trip to China coincides with the arrival of the U.S. delegation appointed to make a survey of the current situation in Pyongyang and assess if there is an ongoing food shortage.
"Kim's visit will accelerate China's investment in North Korea, which it desperately needs," said, a research fellow at the. "China will keep pushing North Korea on the nuclear issue even as it pursues economic cooperation as it wouldn't want to be blamed for making global disarmament efforts ineffective." North Korea's trade with China jumped 30 percent last year even after the United Nations stepped up sanctions following its second nuclear test in May 2009, according to China's commerce ministry.
