N. Korea Seeks Chinese Help

North and South Korea reopened a maritime communication channel on Sunday, with vessels from the two countries making radio contact for the first time in a decade, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. It was also on Sunday that Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, appealed to China’s Xi Jinping to help end sanctions against Pyongyang following his landmark summit with US President Donald Trump, Xinhua reported. Kim made the request during his third meeting with Xi in Beijing last month, and the Chinese president promised to do his “utmost” to satisfy it, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said. “We are feeling great pain due to economic sanctions. Now that we have concluded the US-North Korea summit in success, I want China to work toward early lifting of the sanctions,” Kim reportedly told Xi, according to the newspaper. Kim chose Beijing—his main economic patron and diplomatic protector—for his first official foreign trip in March and met Xi again in May in the northeastern port city of Dalian.