CHINA VOWED to strengthen ties with North Korea, the neighbour it sees as its ideological “little brother”, as premier Wen Jiabao spent day two in the isolated enclave, on a visit that other countries hope will kick-start stalled nuclear disarmament talks.
The warmth of the welcome, which included a khaki-clad North Korean leader Kim Jong-il coming to the airport in person, combined with the powerful Cold War rhetoric of comradeship, has other countries hopeful of a breakthrough.
“Good-neighbourliness and generation-after-generation friendship between the two countries serve the fundamental interests of the two peoples,” Mr Wen was quoted as saying on the Xinhua news agency.
However, this friendship has been strained since China backed UN resolutions condemning North Korea’s nuclear tests.
Crucially, North Korean premier Kim Yong-il (no relation to the Dear Leader) said after meeting Mr Wen that North Korea had not abandoned denuclearisation and was open to “bilateral and multilateral dialogue”.
There was, however, no solid commitment to rejoin the multilateral talks. Mr Wen’s three-day visit is ostensibly to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations, but it is being keenly watched for progress on the nuclear issue.
North Korea withdrew from six-party talks – which also involve China, the US, Japan, Russia and South Korea – in April and conducted its second nuclear test in May, raising regional tensions. The US has said it is willing to engage North Korea directly to restart the nuclear talks, but regional neighbours want the more inclusive six-party format.
In recent weeks Pyongyang has issued more conciliatory statements, suggesting it could resume negotiations. Despite signs of warming ties, few are willing to put too much hope in a positive outcome, as North Korea-watching is a notoriously problematic art.
Senior South Korean parliamentarians yesterday outlined why they believed a certain healthy scepticism was necessary when dealing with North Korea, and how previous failed deals had cost €1.5 billion.
Washington pledged two light-water reactors that would produce nuclear power under a 1994 deal to freeze its atomic programme, along with heavy fuel oil supplies. When the US accused North Korea in 2002 of restarting its atomic programme, the deal was scrapped and Pyongyang expelled nuclear inspectors.
Kwon Young-se, of the Grand National Party, said that South Korea spent €786 million, Japan €280 million and the EU €12 million on the reactors. Meanwhile, the US sent €273 million of fuel oil. This is on top of hundreds of millions of euro worth of fuel oil and other concessions that have been spent under various deals.
The north has also received nearly four trillion won (€2.3 billion) of food, fertiliser and other humanitarian aid from the US, South Korea and international organisations over the past 10 years.
South Korea's Dong-a Ilbonewspaper reported that South Korean authorities had seized four cargo containers belonging to North Korea under UN sanctions imposed in response to its missile and nuclear tests. The seizure would be the first by Seoul under a UN resolution in June.
Another senior member of the Grand National Party, Kim Ock-lee, said Pyongyang possesses 13 types of viruses and germs that it can readily use in a conflict, with up to 5,000 tons of chemical agents. Diseases that could be caused by their biological weapons include cholera, yellow fever, smallpox, eruptive typhus, typhoid fever and dysentery.