North Korea’s Kim takes train to China for military parade, Yonhap says
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Mr Kim Jong Un is expected to arrive in Beijing on Sept 2.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SEOUL - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un left Pyongyang by train on Sept 1 to attend a military parade in China, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency said, the first time he will have taken part in a major multilateral diplomatic event.
The reclusive leader, who rarely leaves North Korea, is expected to arrive in Beijing on Sept 2, Yonhap said.
At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the North Korean leader is due to attend the military parade in Beijing
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has cultivated a close relationship with Mr Kim, will also be at the parade.
An official at South Korea’s Unification Ministry declined to comment on the media reports. South Korea’s intelligence agency was not immediately available for comment.
Mr Kim is expected to hold separate talks with both Mr Xi and Mr Putin on the sidelines of the event, analysts say.
“Unlike his grandfather Kim Il Sung, who attended many diplomatic events, Kim Jong Un and his father Kim Jong Il didn’t show up at any event where many leaders appeared,” said Dr Cheong Seong-chang, vice-president of Sejong Institute, a Seoul-based research centre.
Mr Kim Jong Un seems to want to further bolster relations with Beijing following the latest summit between South Korea and the US
South Korea will send National Assembly speaker Woo Won-shik to the Chinese event, the Unification Ministry said.
The ministry said it was unsure whether Mr Woo would be able to hold bilateral talks with Mr Kim on the sidelines of the event.
The defeat of imperial Japan in 1945 and the rise to power of the Communists in China in 1949 were crucial events helping to prepare the way for the 1950 to 1953 Korean War, which resulted in the division of the peninsula into the China-backed Communist North and the US-backed capitalist South. REUTERS
