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Kim Jong-il has reportedly arrived in Beijing and met with Chinese President Hu Jintao there. At around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, a motorcade of between 20 and 30 vehicles including black Mercedes Benzes with tinted windows was seen pulling into the official Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in the capital.
After the cars entered the compound, police fanned out and security was tightened in the area. According to a diplomatic source in China, bilateral talks got underway either at there or at the Great Hall of the People. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan dropped his country¡¯s strongest hint yet that Kim is indeed visiting, saying Hu ¡°is meeting with a distinguished state visitor today.¡±
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The front entrance of the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, where reporters spotted a motorcade presumed to be that of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on Tuesday morning.
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There was no official comment, but diplomatic sources speculate that three crucial issues must have been addressed: U.S. financial sanctions over the North's alleged counterfeiting practices, Pyongyang¡¯s nuclear program, and economic cooperation including more Chinese investment in North Korea. Of these, the U.S. sanctions are seen as the most urgent matter since Pyongyang has warned it is boycotting six-nation nuclear talks until they are lifted. Observers say there must have been an urgent reason for Kim¡¯s visit just 70 days after he met with Hu in Pyongyang.
Kim¡¯s lengthy tour of China¡¯s boom cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen suggests that soliciting Chinese support for North Korean economic reform was also high on his agenda. A staff member of a Chinese think tank says on previous occasions when Kim visited developed areas in China, he presented relevant economic reform policies after returning home. However, a source in Beijing said the tour of the capitalist showcases in Guangdong Province ¡°is just a gesture to make it seem as though North Korea is making efforts to be become part the international community through openness and reform.¡± The source said the real purpose of Kim¡¯s visit was likely to explain his position in the nuclear dispute.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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