CNN: South Korea moves to ease Chinese jitters over US-North Korea talks
South Korean officials will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, as part of an effort to bring jittery regional powers on board with US President Donald Trump's stunning decision to accept a face-to-face meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Seoul's lead envoy, National Security Advisor Chung Eui-Yong, will meet Xi in Beijing, as a parallel delegation heads to Tokyo to brief Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the attempts to open talks with Pyongyang on its nuclear and missile program.
China, which appears to have been left on the sidelines as South Korea has orchestrated the rapprochement with the North, attempted to take partial credit for the developments at the weekend.
An op-ed in the government mouthpiece, People's Daily, said that the diplomatic breakthrough followed China's "dual-suspension" proposal, in which North Korea would freeze its missile-testing program in return for the suspension of US-South Korean military drills.
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WNU Editor: In public the Chinese leadership is praising these talks .... Kim-Trump nuclear talks to put China on the outer but Beijing ‘will still be in the game’ (SCMP). In private, I am sure they feel like the Japanese (see previous post) .... surprised and left out. In turn .... the South Koreans are doing their best to reassure China .... South Korea praises China's role in nudging North Korea to talks (CTV/AP)
