China Pushes for Olympics Summit Between Bush and Kim Jong-il

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The Daily North Korea, South Korea

China Pushes for Olympics Summit Between Bush and Kim Jong-il

"China will facilitate this highly-classified meeting between the national leaders of North Korea and the U.S. Vice President Xi-jinping is believed to have delivered a private letter from Chinese President Hu Jintao to Kim Jong-il on June 18."

By Yang Jung-a

June 24, 2008

South Korea - Daily North Korea - Original Article (English)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, right, with Chinese Vice President Xi-jinping after a meeting in Pyongyang, June 18. Xi-jinping has visited Pyongyang repeatedly to try and convince the reclusive leader to come to the Olympics and meet President Bush.

During his recent visit to North Korea, Chinese Vice President Xi-jinping is reported to have invited Kim Jong-il to the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games. Now attention is being paid to whether Kim Jong-il will accept.

President George W. Bush intends to attend the ceremony and there is speculation about a potential summit between President Bush and Kim Jong-il.

On Sunday, Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported that Taku Yamazaki, the former secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party told reporters on Saturday, “Chinese Vice President Xi-jinping asked Kim Jong-il to attend the Olympics during their meeting on June 18.”

Yamazaki, who is a senior Japanese lawmaker, said “If Kim Jong-il attends the opening ceremonies, both President Bush and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda would respond favorably. It would provide a good opportunity for a discussion on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.”

Japanese weekly Shukan Bunshun is quoted as saying in its most recent issue that one of purposes of Jinping’s visit to Pyongyang was to bring President Bush and Kim Jong-il together for a meeting at the Olympics.

According to the magazine, "A high-ranking Chinese official has been visiting Pyongyang on a regular basis to encourage Kim Jong-il to attend. If things go well, relations between the United States and North Korea would improve and China’s national prestige as host of the Six Party Talks would also be enhanced.”

The magazine went on, “China will facilitate this highly-classified meeting between the national leaders of North Korea and the U.S. Vice President Xi-jinping is believed to have delivered a private letter from Chinese President Hu Jintao to Kim Jong-il on June 18.”

China has invited the world’s leaders including U.S. President Bush to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games scheduled on August 8. In that sense, it seems reasonable that China has invited the leader of its closest ally, North Korea.

But judging from Kim Jong-il’s past behavior, many experts say it's unlikely that Kim Jong-il would voluntarily appear before the international community.

Yoon Duk-min, professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and Security in Seoul, said “Considering his pattern of behavior, Kim Jong-il is likely to find it difficult to attend a meeting in which many of the world's leaders will be present.” On the other hand, Professor Yoon also says that it won't be easy for Kim to turn China's invitation down.

“In fact, this is a great opportunity for North Korea to show itself as a responsible member of the international community, however, just because Kim Jong-il attends the opening ceremonies doesn't necessarily mean that he'll be willing to hold a summit with the U.S. or South Korea.”

Kim Jong-il does what he does best: Inspect.

Lee Ki-dong, senior analyst at the Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul, said “Let's suppose Kim Jong-il attends the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. This might give the impression that a four-way summit is taking place. But it remains to be seen whether Kim Jong-il’s appearance would be to North Korea’s advantage. For now, North Korea wants to maintain the Six Party Talks. Later on at a decisive moment, North Korea might make a forward-looking choice like improving relations with the U.S. Kim Jong-il’s attendance at the opening ceremonies serve as a gesture of peace to the outside world. Nevertheless, I don't see the benefit to North Korea. Moreover, Kim Jong-il doesn't like multi-party meetings where many people participate. He prefers one-to-one type meetings.”

Some media outlets speculate that a summit between the U.S. and North Korea will likely be arranged when North Korea fully complies in the nuclear verification process, it moves into the third phase of denuclearization and its efforts to eliminate its nuclear materials and weapons proceed in a way that satisfies the United States.

China is highly interested in having Kim attend the opening ceremonies because his appearance would enhance China’s standing as a mediator in East Asia.

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

Lee said, “Vice President Xi-jinping’s future political career depends directly on the success of the Beijing Olympic Games. Therefore, Kim Jong-il’s attendance is of great significance to the Jinping, since the world is paying such careful attention.”

Nevertheless, many other experts think that rather than Kim Jong-il, Kim Yong-nam, North Korea’s second in command and nominal head of the state, will attend and pay the courtesy call on China.

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