China confirms Kim Jon un went to Beijing to meet President Xi Jinping

China confirms Kim Jon un went to Beijing to meet President Xi Jinping

Beijing has confirmed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has visited China to hold talks with President Xi Jinping, in his first foreign visit since taking power.

The announcement corroborated speculation which was sparked when a train similar to the one the dictator's father used was spotted making a round-trip to Beijing.

Xi held talks with Kim at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and he and his wife Peng Liyuan hosted a banquet for Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju.

'I have had successful talks with General Secretary Xi Jinping on developing relations between the two parties and the two countries, our respective domestic situation, maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, and other issues,' Kim said at the banquet. 

Kim also committed to denuclearisation in Korea if the United States and the South showed 'goodwill', it was reported, with China agreeing to support its neighbour if nuclear tensions could be eased.  

Kim visited China from Sunday to Wednesday with his wife, Ri Sol Ju, a South Korean news agency said, with President Xi also accepting an invitation to visit North Korea. 

The trip comes weeks after US President Donald Trump accepted an invitation to meet Kim.

Analysts say Kim would have felt a need to consult with his country's traditional ally ahead of his planned meetings with Mr Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

'If South Korea and the United States respond with good will to our efforts and create an atmosphere of peace and stability, and take phased, synchronized measures to achieve peace, the issue of the denuclearization of the peninsula can reach resolution,' Mr. Kim said, according to Xinhua's summary of his meeting with Mr. Xi

in a statement Tuesday night, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: 'The Chinese government contacted the White House earlier on Tuesday to brief us on Kim Jong Un's visit to Beijing. 

'The briefing included a personal message from President Xi to President Trump, which has been conveyed to President Trump.

'The United States remains in close contact with our allies South Korea and Japan. 

'We see this development as further evidence that our campaign of maximum pressure is creating the appropriate atmosphere for dialogue with North Korea.'

Kim told Xi that it was his 'solemn duty' to make Beijing his first overseas destination as he made his maiden foreign trip as leader, Pyongyang's official news agency reported.

Beijing has traditionally been the closest ally of secretive North Korea, but ties have been frayed by North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and China's backing of tough U.N. sanctions in response. 

Xi hailed Kim's visit as embodying the importance with which the North Korean leader regarded ties with China.

'We speak highly of this visit,' Xi told Kim, according to Xinhua. 

At a banquet in Beijing Kim said: 'There is no question that my first foreign visit is to the Chinese capital,' KCNA reported.

This is my solemn duty as someone who should value and continue the DPRK-PRC relations through generations,' he added using the countries' official acronyms.

Kim confirmed that his nuclear-armed regime was willing to hold a summit with Washington, Xinhua said.

'The DPRK is willing to have dialogue with the United States and hold a summit of the two countries,' Kim reportedly said.

'It is our consistent stand to be committed to denuclearisation on the peninsula, in accordance with the will of late President Kim Il Sung and late General Secretary Kim Jong Il,' he said. 

'The issue of denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula can be resolved, if South Korea and the United States respond to our efforts with goodwill, create an atmosphere of peace and stability while taking progressive and synchronous measures for the realisation of peace.'

President Xi said: 'Both Comrade Chairman and I have personally experienced and witnessed the development of China-DPRK relationship.

'This is a strategic choice and the only right choice both sides have made based on history and reality.... This should not and will not change because of any single event at a particular time,' Xi said.

The visit to China marks Kim's first known trip since taking power in 2011 and his reported meeting with Xi was his first meeting with a foreign head of state.

Kim's father, late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, visited China several times during his rule, for the final time in May 2011, months before his death.

Past visits by Kim Jong Il to China were surrounded in secrecy, with Beijing only confirming his presence after he had crossed the border by train back into North Korea.

Earlier, a motorcade of blacked out cars had been seen entering Beijing Railway Station while a foreign guesthouse in Beijing had a heavy security presence overnight. 

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