Envoy begins four-day visit to DPRK

Beijing announced a senior diplomat's visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on Monday, as Pyongyang and Seoul both demand regional stability and better bilateral relations.

Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin started his four-day visit to Pyongyang later on Monday and will chair a diplomatic consultation with officials from the DPRK's Foreign Ministry and other departments, said Hua Chunying, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.

"The two sides will exchange views on China-DPRK relations, the regional situation and other issues of common concern," Hua said at a daily news conference in Beijing.

The meeting between the two countries' officials is routine, she added.

Shi Yuanhua, director of the Center for Korean Studies under the Institute of International Studies of Fudan University in Shanghai, said both Pyongyang and Seoul are motivated to improve their bilateral relations, which are crucial for the Korean Peninsula's development.

Park Geun-hye, the Republic of Korea's first female president, has tried to deliver on her promise of direct dialogue with Pyongyang, and for a "peninsula trust process", which was announced after her election in December 2012, Shi said.

"In the first year of her presidency, the progress of trust building within the peninsula was not as significant as she promised. For a better performance of her administration in the future, improved relations with Pyongyang are necessary," he added.

Meanwhile, DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un has the so-called Byungjin policy, which places economic development and nuclear weapons development on an equal footing, and that requires a better international environment for the country's economic growth, Shi said.

Pyongyang agreed to have the separated families' reunions as scheduled despite the US' and ROK's joint military exercises. Shi said the DPRK leadership made the compromise since Seoul is likely to play a crucial role in the DPRK's economic development, including that of Kaesong Industrial Park, he added.

"The US, however, might be a destabilizing factor in the region, since Washington has been using the Korean Peninsula as an excuse to enhance its military presence there," Shi said. The US possibly will upgrade the joint military exercises to test Kim Jong-un's patience during the Korean family reunions, he said.

Yang Xiyu, a researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, said it is also uncertain when Pyongyang will conduct new nuclear and missile tests.

"Developing nuclear weapons is one of the DPRK's two national strategies. It will surely be carried out, and the only problem is when they will do it," Yang was quoted by Phoenix TV as saying.

When meeting visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry in Beijing last week, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China will never allow chaos or war on the Korean Peninsula.

"China is playing a role as the stabilizer in the Korean issue, and trying to restart the Six-Party Talks based on a fluid situation," Yang said.

zhaoyanrong@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 02/18/2014 page12)