By Kim Bo-eun
North Korea appears to be seeking a lifting of international sanctions imposed on the country by using its longtime ally, China, as leverage.
North Korea is shifting its focus toward economic development, and for that goal, sanctions relief and economic cooperation with other countries will be essential. While it is creating the atmosphere by offering peace through the inter-Korean and the Washington-Pyongyang summits, it seems the North believes China can speed up the process.
Last week, the Japanese media reported China and Russia submitted a statement to the U.N. Security Council seeking the lifting of sanctions on North Korea.
It was reportedly dismissed due to U.S. opposition, which stated North Korea's denuclearization would have to make progress first.
"China does not regard lifting the sanctions as an end in itself ― the Security Council should support and cooperate in the current mood of dialogue and efforts toward denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang said in a press briefing, Friday.
When North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing last month, he reportedly requested China help with efforts to get the sanctions lifted.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported Sunday that Kim told Xi North Korea is "under great pain due to economic sanctions."
Xi reportedly responded that he would put his "utmost efforts" toward lifting the sanctions.
The newspaper analyzed China and Russia's submission of the statement seeking sanctions relief for North Korea as a measure to carry out Kim's request.
Besides help in relieving sanctions, the North expects economic cooperation with China as well.
The North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Saturday that Kim visited Sindo County in North Pyongan Province, where the Hwanggumpyong Exclusive Industrial Zone is located. The zone was jointly established by North Korea and China.
He looked around a reed field there and ordered a chemical fiber production base to be built in Sindo, according to the KCNA.
It was Kim's first public appearance at an internal event since his meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump and Xi last month.
The North Korean leader's visit to the industrial area bordering China is seen as a means to seek economic cooperation with China.
Kim was accompanied by Kim Song-nam, the first vice director of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea's international department, who is known as an expert on China.
Kim also visited North Korea's largest cosmetics factory in the northwestern border city of Sinuiju, according to the KCNA and Rodong Sinmun, Sunday. Kim's wife Ri Sol-ju accompanied him.
The factory is also North Korea's first cosmetics production base, established in 1949. Sinuiju was designated an exclusive industrial zone in 2002 by Kim's father, former leader Kim Jong-il.
"We should not be content with the achievements made at the Sinuiju cosmetics factory, but leap toward a higher goal," Kim said in the report.
He stressed the need to eliminate manual labor and automate the production process and ordered opening shops in Pyongyang where products made at the factory would be sold.
(作者:产品中心)