The visit of North Korea's president Kim Jong-il to Beijing is generally believed to be connected with Korea's North-South summit due to take place in Pyongyang from June 12th-14th. Officially, of course, nothing of such a specific nature has been admitted. The leaders of China and North Korea, according to the communique issued after Kim Jong-il's departure, "exchanged views and reached consensus on major issues of common concern in an intimate and friendly atmosphere."
Relations between the Workers' Party of Korea and the Communist Party of China were cited as the principal point of interest. Only in a minor reference at the end was there a veiled reference to the main purpose of Kim Jong-il's first venture outside his own country since taking over from his father Kim il-Sung in 1994. The leaders, the communique stated, also discussed the "international and regional situation."
All of this is in line with the general atmosphere of secrecy in which the visit took place. Kim Jong-il arrived in Beijing in a sealed train, a mode of transport enshrined in Communist mythology since the arrival of Lenin, by such means, in St Petersburg on April 3rd 1917.
That the talks took place against such a bizarre background is hardly surprising. North Korea has been more noted for its inability to supply food to its own population than its openness about famine or regional politics. Its isolationism has been almost total.
North Korea, however, has not been alone among communist countries in pursuing excessively isolationist policies. A singular example in Europe has been that of Albania whose citizens were confined within its borders for decades, with foreigners being admitted only on rare occasions. Chinese policy played a part, at least indirectly, in ending Albania's separation from the international community. The opening up of North Korea to outside influence is as inevitable as Albania's was. Cultural, linguistic, personal and family ties which link it with South Korea are so strong that they can only be sundered by severely repressive measures. Such measures eventually eat up so much of a state's moral and physical resources that collapse becomes inevitable.
North Korea is now close to that point of collapse. The process may not be a swift one; animosities built up over the decades will not be easily overcome. Early progress may be made in areas such as sport. Already there are indications that the two Koreas may march together into the Olympic stadium in Sydney later this year under the Olympic flag. China in the past was the prime mover in what became known as "ping-pong diplomacy" and sport may, yet again, be about to play a serious role in the politics of Asia.