Chinese media confirms North Korean leader visited Xi Jinping in Beijing

KIM Jong-un has reportedly promised to denuclearise in a major shift for the North Korean leader in a major turnaround.

NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong-un has promised to give up his nuclear weapons arsenal.

Chinese state media is reporting Kim promised to denuclearise the Korean peninsula following talks with President Xi Jinping.

“It is our consistent stand to be committed to denuclearisation on the peninsula, in accordance with the will of late President Kim Il-sung and late General Secretary Kim Jong-il,” China Xinhua News quoted Kim as saying.

“The issue of denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula can be resolved if South Korea and the United States respond to our efforts with goodwill, create an atmosphere of peace and stability while taking progressive and synchronous measures for the realisation of peace.”

The pledge represents a huge turnaround for Kim who has made it his country’s goal to become a fully fledged nuclear state, an ambition which has alarmed the West and sent tensions soaring with US President Donald Trump.

The promise to denuclearise comes as China’s state media confirmed Kim made a visit to Beijing, marking his first foreign trip since taking office in 2011.

Kim held “successful talks” with Mr Xi, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua.

“Xi said Kim’s current visit to China, which came at a special time and was of great significance, fully embodied the great importance that Comrade Chairman and the WPK Central Committee have attached to the relations between the two countries and the two parties,” Xinhua reported.

The report also said Mr Kim had assured Mr Xi he is committed to denuclearisation.

North Korea’s KCNA news agency hailed the visit as a “milestone” in improving ties between the two countries.

Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan welcomed Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing pic.twitter.com/qoK4nu12xF

— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) March 28, 2018

Dr Malcolm Davis, senior analyst in defence strategy and capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told news.com.au the visit is just a warm-up.

“The visit to Beijing was a surprise, but I think that’s the warm up for the main event, which is of course, the Kim-Trump summit,” he said.

“The addition of John Bolton as US National Security Advisor may make that summit even less likely to produce something significant in the end.

“As for Kim and Xi, I think that they are probably co-ordinating their respective positions prior to further North-South Dialogue, and the summit, and maybe conferring on not only Korean peninsula issues, but also the looming trade war.”

Speaking to Sky News earlier today, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said there was a positive aspect to the meeting.

“Kim Jong-un knows he needs China’s support, and China has been very helpful in recent times in imposing significant economic sanctions on North Korea in order to bring North Korea to the negotiating table,” she said.

“Collectively the UN Security Council and a number of other countries around the world have been exerting maximum economic pressure on North Korea, and if Kim Jong-un has reached out to Beijing, it shows that pressure is working.”

‘MYSTERIOUS TRAIN’ ARRIVES IN BEIJING

Rumours of the visit circulated earlier this week following the arrival of a mysterious and heavily armoured North Korean train in Beijing.

The olive-green train with yellow piping that was seen in Beijing looked strikingly similar to one used by Kim’s father, the late leader Kim Jong-il.

The elder Kim — who lived like a playboy but famously hated flying — is said to have decked out his trains for parties, bouts of heavy boozing and karaoke, The New York Post reported.

A Russian official who accompanied Kim Jong-il on a trip to Moscow in 2001 said the train was packed with cases of Bordeaux and Beaujolais from Paris.

Passengers could feast on live lobster and pork barbecue.

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Kim Jong-il used his high-security trains during his seven visits to China and three to Russia during his 1994-2011 term, according to Agence France-Presse.

In fact, he was on a train for a “field guidance” visit in December 2011 when he died of a heart attack, according to an official North Korean account.

A special train is seen at Beijing Railway Station yesterday. Picture: Kyodo News via AP

A life-size mock-up of one of the train’s carriages is displayed in the lavish mausoleum outside Pyongyang where national founder Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il lie in state.

Guides tell visitors that the carriage was used as a mobile office — proof, they insist, that the leaders toiled tirelessly for the people.

But the most striking feature of the rogue regime’s railroad version of Air Force One is the security — notably the armour meant to derail any efforts to break into the carriages.

Inside, the Pyongyang-manufactured trains feature an array of satellite phones, TV sets, conference rooms, bedrooms and reception facilities.

According to South Korean reports, Pyongyang has a total of 90 special carriages and operates three trains in tandem when a leader is travelling.

An advance train checks the rails, the train with the leader and his immediate entourage are in another train, and a third train carries everyone else.

The trains travel at a leisurely 61km per hour — but can whisk the leader away in a hurry in armoured vehicles and even small helicopters that also are carried aboard for emergencies.

— With Post wires