China Warns Kim?
In what could be a very interesting development, China has handed Kim Jong Il a personal message from president Hu Jintao. The Chinese Foreign Ministry says the visit to North Korea by a delegation from China was "significant". There are no details of what was in the private message, but it is seen as highly unusual.
SEOUL (AFP) - China has tightened the screw on North Korea in a rare direct message to reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned his nation not to carry out a second atom bomb test.
A special envoy handed a personal message from Chinese President Hu Jintao to Kim Thursday in what a foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing called a "significant" visit to Pyongyang.
It came as Rice, in Seoul, warned of "grave consequences" if the Stalinist regime conducted a second weapons test after its shock first October 9 trial while also stressing that the door to negotiations remained open.
Tang Jiaxuan, leading a delegation of senior Chinese government officials, carried a message from Hu, foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.
"This is a very significant visit against the backdrop of major changes in the situation on the Korean peninsula," Liu said.
It is thought to be Kim's first announced meeting with any foreigner since the test.
North Korea's state news agency KCNA, for its part, said Tang handed Kim a gift as they talked of bilateral ties "and a series of international issues of mutual concern."
"Kim Jong-Il expressed thanks for this and conversed with him in a friendly atmosphere," KCNA added.
Kim might want to be very careful here. China may indeed have a gift for him in the near future according to some reports. It is likely said message would be delivered 7.62mm at a time.
North Korea | Gaius Thursday, 19 October , 2006
