Chinese official to brief Moon on Xi

By Kim Rahn

A ranking Chinese official is scheduled to visit South Korea and brief officials here on this week's summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday.

Ahead of planned summits with the South and the United States, the North is seeking help and support from its longtime and almost only ally, China, with which its relationship has been strained. This raises expectations that China's role will become larger in resolving the issue of Pyongyang's nuclear programs.

Cheong Wa Dae said Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi will arrive in Seoul today and meet the head of the National Security Office, Chung Eui-yong. He will meet President Moon Jae-in Friday.

Yang's visit plan was announced about an hour after China and North Korea confirmed the talks between Xi and Kim.

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"He will come as Xi's special representative," presidential chief press secretary Yoon Young-chan said. "He will brief Moon and other officials on the results of the Beijing-Pyongyang summit, as well as discuss other related issues, including denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

When asked whether Seoul and Beijing will discuss scrapping the armistice agreement reached after the 1950-53 Korean War and instead sign a peace treaty, another Cheong Wa Dae official said it is too premature to talk about it.

"His visit is to explain the Xi-Kim summit, like Moon's special envoys to Pyongyang later briefed Xi on their meetings with Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump," the official said.

Asked whether diplomatic channels with four major countries involved in the nuclear issue ― the U.S., China, Japan and Russia ― will be operated regularly, he said: "The current situation is progressing beyond our expectations. We need to watch it, not ruling out any possibilities."

The official said China had told South Korea of the North Koreans' visit to China beforehand, but did not disclose exactly when it did and whether it specifically said the visitors would include Kim.

He said Moon had received reports from Cheong Wa Dae officials about the Beijing-Pyongyang summit during his visit to the United Arab Emirates from March 24 to 27. After returning home on Wednesday morning, he and his secretaries met to discuss the issue.

"According to North Korean media, Kim said during the summit that denuclearizing the peninsula was the instruction from his father and grandfather," the official said. "Such a stance is expected to have a positive influence on the upcoming Seoul-Pyongyang and Pyongyang-Washington summits."