BEIJING, April 19: Reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il held talks in Beijing with Chinese Hu Jintao on Monday centred on nuclear issues days after the United States cited intelligence that Pyongyang had atomic bombs.
Mr Kim and a 30- to 40-strong entourage arrived for the unannounced four-day visit to the Chinese capital by train amid tight security, disembarking ahead of Beijing Station for security reasons.
The agency said the talks took place over lunch at Zhongnanhai, the residence of China's top leaders, and focused on the nuclear standoff, China's economic assistance to the North and North Korea's economic reform.
Mr Hu briefed Mr Kim on Washington's position on the nuclear issue following his meeting last week with US Vice President Dick Cheney, and listened to Mr Kim's ideas on how to end the dispute in Tokyo, Japanese leaders, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, were tight-lipped about the reports of Mr Kim's unannounced trip.
"Neither the Chinese side nor the North Korean side has made any announcement. I'd better not say this or that at a time when it is not confirmed," he told reporters at his official residence.
There was no special security in place outside the North Korean embassy, with the usual two guards at the entrance, who also denied any knowledge of Mr Kim's visit.
Analysts said Mr Kim would try and persuade China to stay onside in its long-running spat with the United States over its nuclear weapons programmes. "North Korea will want to persuade China to stay onside and on message," said Paul Harris, an expert in north Asian issues at Hong Kong's Lingnan University.
"Kim also wants more economic aid, but most of all he wants to persuade China that there can be a compromise without resorting to America's demands." Washington demands the complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantling of North Korea's nuclear programmes, both plutonium and enriched uranium schemes, before it will offer concessions to the impoverished state.
Pyongyang's rulers deny they have a uranium-based programme. For its part, China will want a commitment from North Korea that it will not resort to any radical actions.
"I suspect China will say to Kim - how many bombs do you have? This is China's main concern. It doesn't want the nuclear issue out of hand and an arms race in Asia," said Harris.
Dick Cheney came to China last week armed with new intelligence that Pakistani scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan was shown three nuclear devices at a secret underground plant when he visited North Korea five years ago. -AFP
