Kim seeks Xi’s help to end sanctions

Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS

SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un requested Chinese President Xi Jinping’s help in getting sanctions against Pyongyang lifted as soon as possible during their meeting in Beijing last month, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

At the talks on June 19-20, Kim asked his counterpart to cooperate in lifting the sanctions against North Korea because they “have severely battered” his country, according to several sources involved in the China-North Korea meeting.

“I finished the North Korea-U.S. summit meeting successfully, so we’d like your country to make efforts to get the sanctions lifted as soon as possible,” he was quoted as saying.

“I’ll make my utmost efforts,” Xi responded, according to the sources.

On June 28, China and Russia distributed the draft of a press statement calling on members of the U.N. Security Council to relax sanctions against North Korea — a move believed to have been made in response to Kim’s request.

During the talks in Beijing, Kim once again asked Xi to stand aligned with his position that the United States should provide concessions to North Korea in a phased manner as denuclearization progresses, according to the sources.

The North Korean leader seems to consider the lifting of the sanctions as a pillar of “gradual concessions” by the United States, the sources said.

Kim also asked Xi to guarantee the security of the North Korean regime and help resolve economic issues facing his country should Washington not give anything in return for Pyongyang’s denuclearization, according to the sources.

A source familiar with China-North Korea relations explained that such a request for security carries the implication that “China will clearly support and defend the regime if the dictatorship is shaken by an influx of information and other factors as it implements economic reforms and opens up its economic system.”

Xi said Beijing “will support Pyongyang’s reform and opening-up policies, and willingly cooperate on various related issues.”

During the meeting with the Chinese leader, Kim described his positive impression of U.S. President Donald Trump, whom he met for the first time at the June summit. “We can talk. He has a big heart,” he said, according to the sources.

Xi, however, apparently tried to temper North Korea’s rapid moves to get closer to the United States. “Rather than being hasty, I hope [North Korea] keeps up negotiations with the United States while continuing consultations with China,” the Chinese leader was quoted as saying.