N. Korea: We Won’t Budge

As State Department official Sung Kim heads for Pyongyang  to try to  save  Chris Hill’s  failing deal, North Korea is trying to be unambiguous about just how much it’s willing to give.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told a Chinese Communist Party official Wednesday that there is no change in Pyongyang’s stance of implementing a six-party agreement on the North’s denuclearization, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported.  Kim made the remarks when he met with Wang Jiarui, head of the Chinese Communist Party’s international liaison, the report said.  [Kyodo]

Not clear enough for you?

“The DPRK (North Korea) side’s stance of advancing the six-party talks and implementing the various agreements jointly reached has not changed,” China’s official Xinhua news agency quoted Mr Kim as saying.  [BBC]

Not to worry, say the Chinese.  It can all be worked out … sometime after last January 2009, I suppose. 

The Chosun Ilbo  says that the Chinese official visited Pyongyang at State’s request.  According to the BBC, the visiting Chinese official carried a secret message from Hu Jintao, which I assume could be phrased succinctly:  “stall!”  So now the Chinese have checked the block. 

China does not fear  the consequences of being unhelpful to us.