North Korean state media reported China’s top legislator met with senior North Korean officials for talks on cooperation during a visit to Pyongyang this week, in one of the most high-profile meetings between the two allies in recent years.
Zhao Leji, China’s third-highest ranking official — a member of the influential Chinese Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee — is on a goodwill visit to nuclear-armed North Korea as the two countries mark the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic ties.
China is North Korea’s most important economic ally and diplomatic ally, blocking US-led efforts at the UN Security Council alongside Russia to impose stricter sanctions on Kim Jong Un’s regime in response to increased weapons testing.
Zhao arrived in the North Korean capital on Thursday and met with his North Korean counterpart, Choe Ryong Hae, to discuss “exchanges and cooperation in all fields, including politics, economics and culture,” KCNA said.
“The talks exchanged views on regional and international issues that influence each other,” he added, without specifying.
Zhao is the third highest-ranking Chinese official, behind President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.
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Xi last met Kim in 2019 before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, making the meeting between Zhao and Choe in Pyongyang one of the most high-profile meetings in recent years.
Local South Korean media reported Zhao’s visit might include planning for Kim’s next state visit to Beijing.
Xinhua, China’s official news agency, said the two officials also discussed “the situation on the Korean Peninsula,” and Zhao expressed Beijing’s willingness to “intensify legislative exchanges and cooperation.”
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Choe and Zhao signed “relevant cooperation documents” in the areas of “establishment of mutual diplomatic visa exclusion between China and North Korea, translation and publication of classical works, customs and quarantine, radio and television, and postal express delivery,” Xinhua said.
Kim has tried to strengthen ties with Beijing as he steps up his aggressive rhetoric toward South Korea.
As North Korea’s largest trading partner, Chinese products that dominate exports include soybean oil and rubber tires, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, a trade data project associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Pyongyang’s main exports include tungsten ore, ferroalloys, and hair products such as false eyelashes and wigs. (AFP/Z-3)
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