By Liz Lee
BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s President Xi Jinping called on Thursday for closer coordination with North Korea in global and regional affairs, state media reported, as the leaders of the two nuclear-armed neighbours held their first meeting in six years.
Xi met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a day after Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a military parade in Beijing. Both were seen walking and talking with Xi during the massive event which China used as a portrayal of force.
It was the first time the three leaders have appeared together, and marked the reclusive North Korean leader’s first attendance at a major multilateral event.
Kim, in video clips released by CCTV, congratulated Xi on the “successful and grand” parade which “strongly demonstrated today’s great international status of China”.
“China’s celebration is our celebration,” he said.
Xi called the two countries “good neighbours, good friends and good comrades that share a common destiny,” CCTV said.
“China and North Korea should strengthen strategic coordination in international and regional affairs to safeguard their common interests,” Xi was quoted as saying.
“China is willing to strengthen high-level exchanges and strategic communication with North Korea … enhance mutual understanding and friendship, step up interactions at all levels, and carry out practical cooperation across fields.”
On the Korean Peninsula issue, Xi said that China was ready to continue strengthening coordination with North Korea to maintain peace and stability in the region.
Kim arrived in Beijing on his signature green armoured train on Tuesday, along with his teenage daughter who made her first public outing on foreign soil.
Video footage posted by CCTV earlier on Thursday showed Kim leaving the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing, where his meeting with Xi took place.
Those accompanying him included his sister Kim Yo Jong, a ruling Workers’ Party official who has been a fixture in leader Kim’s inner circle and often speaks for him on external affairs.
His train was seen leaving the Chinese capital late Thursday night after the talks, according to Reuters witnesses.
China, a formal treaty ally of North Korea, is overwhelmingly the isolated nation’s largest trading partner. The two countries share a history going back to Beijing’s support of Pyongyang during the 1950-1953 Korean War that resulted in the formation of North and South Korea.
But as Kim deepened ties with Putin in recent years, especially on military cooperation, Beijing has kept a distance and reacted guardedly.
On Wednesday, Kim vowed “full support” for Russia’s army as a “fraternal duty” in a meeting with Putin.
During his meeting with Kim, Xi said that China’s position in developing ties with North Korea would not change “no matter how the international situation evolves.”
(Additional reporting by Beijing and Shanghai newsrooms, and Jack Kim in Seoul; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Aidan Lewis and Ros Russell)
