Beijing, Tokyo to Cooperate More to Denuclearize N. Korea

Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Taro Kono said on Sunday Tokyo and Beijing needed to work more closely together to denuclearize North Korea, in comments made during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

Wang’s arrival in Tokyo comes ahead of a summit between the two Koreas this month and a meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump. The US-North Korean talks are aimed at ending a standoff over Pyongyang’s development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, Reuters reported.

Wang’s trip also follows an official visit by Kono to Beijing earlier this year, and marks the first visit by a Chinese foreign minister to Japan in a bilateral context in nine years.

“We would like to cooperate further toward the common goal between Japan and China, of establishing a complete, irreversible and verifiable denuclearization of North Korea,” Kono said as the two began talks in Tokyo.

The meetings also come after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier pledged to reset the sometimes fraught relationship between Asia’s two largest economies.

Wang said the visit was a response to Japan’s positive attitude toward China. “Since last year, Japan has, in relations with China, displayed a positive message and friendly attitude,” Wang said at the meeting, adding that he hoped that the visit would help the two countries move toward better ties.

Wang on Monday holds high-level talks with Kono and other Japanese cabinet ministers. On Tuesday, Japanese Self Defense Force officers will meet their counterparts from China’s People’s Liberation Army at a reception hosted by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation aimed at building trust between the past military rivals.

Wang spent eight years in Japan as a diplomat with three of those years as China’s ambassador.

  North Korea-China Ties

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met Chinese senior diplomat Song Tao, and feted a Chinese art troupe led by Song, North Korean state media said on Sunday, indicating closer ties with China following Kim’s surprise visit to Beijing last month.

The North Korean leader on Saturday “warmly” greeted Song Tao and the Chinese delegation visiting Pyongyang to perform and also expressed his greetings to Chinese President Xi Jinping after Song conveyed Xi’s greetings to Kim, the North’s official Korea Central News Agency said.

“He said with deep emotion that the Chinese comrades accorded cordial hospitality to him with utmost sincerity in token of warm comradely friendship during his recent unforgettable visit to China,” the KCNA said.

In late March, Kim made a rare visit to Beijing and met Xi, Kim’s first known journey abroad since he took power in 2011.

The Chinese art troupe, led by Song, the head of the Communist Party’s International Department, left for North Korea on Friday for an April Spring Friendship Art Festival.

The art troupe performed on Saturday at the Mansudae Art Theatre, and the North Korean leader Kim’s wife Ri Sol Ju watched a ballet “Giselle,” performed by the National Ballet of China, but Kim was not present, the KCNA said.

At the meeting with Song, Kim also said the warm welcome was “due obligation and behavior of the host and close friend for him,” and would offer “all conditions for the Chinese art troupe at the highest level and on a top-priority basis,” according to the KCNA.

That contrasts with Song’s last visit to Pyongyang last November, when he was sent as Xi’s special enjoy to discuss the outcome of China’s 19th Party Congress. Song returned to Beijing without meeting Kim.

North Korea’s ties with China, its sole ally, had become strained over the past couple of years over the North’s contentious missile and nuclear tests.

Kim and Song also exchanged views on deepening bilateral relations, the KCNA said. Kim said he would develop their friendship into a “fresh phase of development as required by a new era by further strengthening of the bilateral relations.”