N. Korean foreign minister on trip to Beijing, Moscow following Kim trip

by WorldTribune Staff, April 3, 2018

North Korea’s foreign minister met with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing on April 3 and plans to travel to Russia later this week, news reports from Seoul said.

News of the proposed talks as early as next month between Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump came as a shock in Beijing and Moscow, long the mainstays of international support for the communist government in Pyongyang.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport on April 3. / Yonhap

Ri Yong-Ho and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi “discussed details of the issues concerning the Korean Peninsula … ahead of the South-North and U.S.-North summits,” a diplomatic source said, according to Yonhap.

Ri’s trip to Beijing follows the surprise visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to China last week. In his first foreign trip since taking power, Kim held an unofficial summit meeting in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Geostrategy-Direct.com reported in its March 27 edition that “The urgency of Kim’s mission is obvious from his decision finally to travel outside North Korea for the first time since he took over after his father’s death in December 2011. … North Korea has yet, however, to publicize the upcoming Moon-Kim summit. Nor has the North hinted at a possible summit between Kim and Trump though the North Korean state media has refrained ever since the Winter Olympics last month from its customary insults.”

Related: Secrecy suggested North Korean train to Beijing was on urgent mission, March 27, 2018

Following his meeting in Beijing on April 3, Ri headed for Baku, Azerbaijan to attend a ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement slated for April 5-6, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

Following his trip to Baku, Ri is expected to travel to Russia.


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