BEIJING—The arrival of a North Korean train in the Chinese capital sparked frenzied speculation that Pyongyang had sent a senior figure—perhaps even leader Kim Jong Un —on a mission to strengthen ties with Beijing ahead of a planned summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.
South Korean authorities said they believed the train had pulled in Monday, but they didn’t know who was aboard. China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said she was “unaware of the situation.” Several foreign diplomats said they understood a high-level North Korean delegation was visiting.
Witnesses saw a long motorcade speeding through the city and there was heavy security around the official state guesthouse, suggesting that if the visitor wasn’t Mr. Kim, it was likely a senior official such as his younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, who attended the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February.
Diplomats said they believed the North Korean train left Beijing on Tuesday afternoon.
The delegation’s dispatch is a sign Mr. Kim is seeking to improve ties with China as the U.S. administration tilts toward a tougher line ahead of denuclearization talks. Since agreeing to meet Mr. Kim, Mr. Trump has fired his pro-engagement secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, and named the hawkish John Bolton as national security adviser.
Mr. Bolton, who has argued for pre-emptive strikes, has called for North Korea to give up its atomic arms immediately. But Mr. Kim, according to those who study the North Korean regime, will likely seek a longer-term agreement, in which North Korea gets security and economic guarantees now in exchange for freezing nuclear tests and dismantling its weapons program over time.
“The stakes were raised, and it must have become clear that the summit could go very badly,” said Ken Gause, a senior North Korea analyst at CNA, a think tank based in Arlington, Va. “Kim Jong Un needs to be sure that China has his back.”
Since its founding as a Soviet-backed satellite after World War II, North Korea has proven adept at playing great powers against one another to extract advantages and ensure its survival. Mr. Kim’s grandfather, who founded the dynastic dictatorship, pivoted between Beijing and Moscow to ensure his aid-dependent regime wasn’t completely beholden to either.
China long has been North Korea’s only treaty ally and largest trade partner. But that relationship has soured as Beijing has stepped up enforcement of sanctions, which economists say are starting to bite North Korea’s economy. Mr. Kim declined to meet a Chinese envoy on a recent visit to Pyongyang.
For North Korea, it is “most urgent” to mend fences with China to find a way out of economic turmoil caused by sanctions, said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior fellow at the Sejong Institute, a Seoul-based private think tank.
With the U.S. threatening to impose tariffs on Chinese goods—a measure Mr. Trump once suggested he would forgo in exchange for Beijing’s cooperation on North Korea—rising tensions between the two major powers present a diplomatic opening for Mr. Kim.
North Korea’s 30-something, third-generation leader isn’t known to have left his country since taking power in 2011, nor to have met another world leader. His father, Kim Jong Il, on occasion traveled to Beijing and Russia aboard an armored train, trips that were usually confirmed only after he had returned to Pyongyang. Several foreign affairs analysts said they expect North Korea to send a delegation to Moscow in the coming weeks.
For North Korea, China is crucial because almost all of North Korea’s trade goes across their shared border. Beijing’s willingness to strictly enforce sanctions in the past year was key to global efforts to squeeze North Korea’s economy and bring Mr. Kim to the negotiating table. Mr. Kim’s goal is likely to win China’s support in talks with the U.S., and pave the way for a loosening of sanctions.
“Right now they are focused on getting relief on sanctions and getting the economy in shape,” said Go Myong-hyun, a North Korea specialist at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.
Meantime, Beijing has been largely sidelined during weeks of diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula. In hosting a high-level North Korean delegation, China may be reminding the U.S. and its allies that it still plays an indispensable role and should be included in any discussions, said diplomats and analysts in China.
“China has been kind of marginalized, and it was inevitable the Chinese would want to redouble their efforts to have influence,” said Scott Snyder, a Korea expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Ties between Pyongyang and Beijing have been rocky since at least 2013, when Mr. Kim executed his uncle and senior adviser, Jang Song Thaek, who was viewed as one of North Korea’s most pro-China officials, analysts say.
Still, for Mr. Kim to meet a U.S. leader before meeting his Chinese counterpart might be considered an insult.
While it is unclear who was on the train, its arrival is a potent reminder of the deep relationship between North Korea and China, which backed North Korea in the Korean War.
Video clips circulating online showed what appeared to be a North Korean train at a Beijing railway station and a large motorcade leaving the station, amid tight security.
Witnesses saw a similar motorcade sweeping into the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, where visiting leaders often stay. The entourage later visited a Beijing district that is home to many technology companies.
Hundreds of police lined the streets and set up security cordons in parts of the city, including around the Great Hall of the People, where visiting leaders are usually given an official welcome.
—Chun Han Wong, Kersten Zhang and Yang Jie contributed to this article.
Bagikan Berita Ini
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