THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Kim seeks to up ante with Xi summit

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s surprise trip to China could herald a new round of summitry on and about the peninsula, analysts say, but may also be an attempt to pressure US President Donald Trump as negotiations between them falter.

Discussions between Pyongyang and Washington over the North’s nuclear arsenal have stalled since Kim and Trump’s high-profile summit in Singapore, with the US insisting that sanctions must remain in place until it gives up its weapons, and the North demanding an immediate easing.

In his New Year’s address — always a key moment in the North Korean political calendar — Kim said that if Washington persisted with its approach, “we may be left with no choice but to consider a new way to safeguard our sovereignty and interests.”

With his visit to China, “Kim is eager to remind the Trump administration that he does have diplomatic and economic options besides what Washington and Seoul can offer,” said Harry Kazianis of the Center for the National Interest in Washington.

The US should be “quite concerned” by any effort by Pyongyang to strengthen ties with Beijing, he added, as almost all North Korean trade flows through China and any improvement in relations would weaken the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” strategy.

With US and Chinese officials meeting in Beijing to address a trade row that has roiled global markets, he said, “the timing could not be any better” for the Chinese side. “It shows Beijing clearly has a North Korea card to play if it sees fit.”

Chinese forces played an integral role defending the North during the 1950-53 Korean War, and Beijing remains Pyongyang’s key diplomatic backer and trade partner.

It has always feared the collapse of its neighbor, which would threaten floods of refugees streaming onto its territory and the prospect of US troops stationed on its border in a unified Korea, but in recent years became increasingly frustrated with its nuclear antics.

That changed last spring when Kim ended six years as a diplomatic recluse to go to Beijing and pay his respects to Xi in his first overseas trip as leader.

A series of visits have followed in both directions — although Xi has yet to reciprocate with a trip to Pyongyang — along with three summits between Kim and the South’s President Moon Jae-in, and Beijing lent Kim a plane to travel to Singapore.

Source: AFP