Russia: No plans for Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un summit

Donald Trump says he’s looking forward to meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un after hearing his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping went well.

CNN reported that South Korea had no involvement with Kim’s visit to Beijing, China, and that they were monitoring what would happen next.

Footage of talks that followed between Kim and Xi from Chinese state broadcaster CCTV cut pointedly between shots of the Chinese leader speaking and Kim studiously taking notes.

We can see Kim Jong Un with his wife Ri Sol Ju trying on a VR headset in front of what looks to be a shipment cargo exhibit.

“It seems China was not comfortable with the idea of Kim meeting with Moon and Trump before having ever met with Xi”, said Paul Haenle, who served as China affairs director for the National Security Council under George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

The North had said in previous, failed talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear programme it could consider giving up its arsenal if the United States removed its troops from South Korea and withdrew its so-called nuclear umbrella of deterrence from South Korea and Japan. But Trump didn’t give them that opportunity because what he did was he agreed to the summit, he made South Korean President Moon Jae-in happy and therefore he made the right decision within a 45 minute time frame.

April 1982: Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping visits North Korea to attend celebrations of Kim Il Sung’s 70th birthday.

It helped turn the tide of a conflict that has officially never ended: an armistice remains in place with tens of thousands of U.S. troops on North Korea’s border.

The president recently announced a plan to impose around $60 billion in trade penalties on China for alleged theft of American intellectual property. Meanwhile, Washington said China briefed the Trump administration on the visit.

Kim Jong Un was reportedly in China between march 25 – 28th.

In an attempt to keep the visit under wraps earlier this week, China censored the characters for “Kim Jong Un” and “North Korea” from its internet – as well as longstanding nicknames for the North Korean leader, such as “Fatty Fatty”.

China has always been the North’s key diplomatic defender and provider of trade and aid, but relations have been strained by Pyongyang’s weapons programmes, with Beijing showing a new willingness to implement United Nations sanctions against it.

Lu Chao, head of the Center for North Korean and Republic of Korea Studies at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that while Kim’s visit appears to have been an unexpected development for the worldwide community, it was actually a very logical thing. China has cooperated in applying sanctions to Kim’s regime and would welcome a resumption of full trading relations. Analysts think Kim may have been seeking promises from Beijing that it wouldn’t hit the North too hard with sanctions if the talks with Washington and Seoul fall apart and the North starts testing nuclear weapons and missiles again.

Hayes said the risk that the North would use the light-water reactor for plutonium for weapons is low, given technical issues and the presence of an older reactor at the same Yongbyon site with far greater plutonium enrichment capabilities.

When, or if, Mr Trump meets Mr Kim, China will have already staked its territory.