Pyongyang seeking friends in China as Seoul ponders shutting down Kaesŏng
Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies) – North Korean Premier Kim Yong-il is on a five-day visit to the People’s Republic of China to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations. On the eve of his departure he praised China as “bulwark of regional stability.”
Mr Kim, who is not related to North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-il, is in Beijing to strengthen the friendship between the two nations. His visit is also a sign that China wants to maintain ties to North Korea’s Communist regime, which is currently isolated by the international community because of its nuclear programme.
But the visit is also an opportunity to focus on trade and economic issues, including industry. The nuclear issue is not likely to be on the table, which for Beijing is a matter for the Six-nation group.
Today Pyongyang also reopened its border with the South to allow South Korean managers and supplies back into the joint Korean industrial park at Kaesŏng.
But anonymous sources in the South Korean government said that a “temporary shutdown is a possible preventive measure” in response to North Korea’s blackmails.
North Korea sealed the border twice last week as a US-South Korean military exercise got underway in and around South Korea.
Such joint exercises have been commonplace for years, but the North has always used them to raise tensions with the South.
Despite its threats Pyongyang is not likely to close down the Kaesŏng industrial park whose output was US$ 250 million last year.
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