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CHINA-NKOREA-DIPLOMACY-US
China calls on US, N. Korea to implement Singapore deal
BEIJING, Sept 10, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – China’s top legislator voiced hope that
North Korea and the United States will implement their nuclear summit
agreement as he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Chinese state media
said Monday.
Li Zhanshu, sent by President Xi Jinping to attend North Korea’s 70th
anniversary parade on Sunday, said China was committed to the goal of
denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, the Xinhua news agency said.
“We have high regards of the efforts the DPRK has made towards regional
peace and stability,” Li was quoted as saying, using the acronym for the
North’s official name.
Xinhua said Li also conveyed his hope that North Korea and the United
States could implement the outcome of the June summit between Kim and
President Donald Trump in Singapore and work to preserve peaceful talks.
Trump and Kim reached a vague agreement to work towards the
denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, but there has been little movement
since and Trump has accused Beijing — North Korea’s sole major ally — of
complicating Washington’s relationship with Pyongyang.
But North Korea refrained from displaying its intercontinental missiles
during Sunday’s parade, a conspicuous absence that Trump hailed as “a big and
very positive statement”.
For his part, Kim said North Korea adheres to the consensus reached at the
summit and “has taken measures in this regard while the US side should take
corresponding actions to jointly promote the political settlement of the
Korean peninsula issue,” according to Xinhua.
Li also handed a signed letter from Xi to Kim.
In the missive, according to Xinhua, Xi wrote that it “is an unswerving
policy of the CPC (Communist Party of China) and the Chinese government to
safeguard, consolidate and develop China-DPRK relations”.
Relations between Pyongyang and Beijing have gone through a rough patch in
recent years, with China backing United Nations sanctions to punish its Cold
War-era ally for its nuclear activities.
But ties have recently improved as Kim met Xi in China three times this
year.
Although the Chinese leader has yet to return the favour with his own visit
to Pyongyang, he sent a major figure in Li to represent him. Li is a member
of the Communist Party’s seven-person Politburo Standing Committee, China’s
ruling council.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1134 hrs