North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, wrapping up his five-day visit to China, returned home on May 7. According to the Chinese media, the North’s National Defense Commission chairman Kim held a summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao on May 5 to discuss economic and diplomatic, including the six-party nuclear talks. During the summit, President Hu reportedly suggested bilateral cooperation in five areas, expressing his wish to enhance strategic communication. Chairman Kim held a separate meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao to engage in intensive discussions about economic cooperation between the two countries. Diplomatic experts say the North Korean leader’s China visit was mostly focused on strengthening the political bond between the two communist allies and discussing pragmatic economic cooperation, but in reality, North Korea failed to achieve a satisfactory result. Let’s listen to Professor Yu Ho-yeol from the North Korean Studies Department at Korea University.

North Korea faces difficult situations inside and outside the nation. By showing off its close relationship with China, the North is expected to receive pragmatic aid from China and stabilize its regime. This is an important result of Kim Jong’il’s China visit last week. China, for its part, highlighted its status or its constructive role in regional diplomacy in Northeast Asia, as seen in its continued special relationship with North Korea. Judging from media reports, however, it’s hard to say North Korea gained what it had wanted. The impoverished North hopes to receive massive food aid and elicit China’s investment in the development of the North’s Raseon Port right away. China, in principle, sees eye to eye on the need for the development project, but it seems to be approaching it step by step, calling for both sides to conduct more in-depth research.

It had been widely expected that Chairman Kim would watch the opera, “Dream of the Red Chamber,” with President Hu to demonstrate bilateral friendship. But it turned out that Kim left Beijing without having watched the performance. Interpretations vary. Some suspect Kim canceled the schedule because his health worsened, while others say discussions between North Korea and China did not proceed well. Meanwhile, there is speculation that the Chinese leadership called for a change from North Korea in apparently strident terms. Professor Yu perceives a slight change in relations between Beijing and Pyongyang through reports released by the North Korean media.

During the North Korea-China summit, Hu Jintao made five proposals in regards to future bilateral ties, while Premier Wen Jiabao said he wished to introduce China’s experience in reform and openness to North Korea. The direct reference to “openness” implies the potential market opening of North Korea or a transition to a new relationship between North Korea and China. But the North Korean media never mentioned these parts. North Korea did agree with China on the surface, but I think Beijing proposed something North Korea cannot easily accept. I can sense a subtle change in their relations.

Meanwhile, many are wondering if the China-North Korea summit touched on the sinking of the South Korean navy vessel Cheonan. The South Korean government says China never mentioned the sinking incident while briefing Seoul on the result of the summit. Therefore, South Korea believes that the naval incident was not a discussion topic during the summit. China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu also says that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s visit to China was separate from the sinking of the South Korean warship. Previously, South Korea and the U.S. pledged to cooperate closely to determine the exact cause of the incident, while demanding cooperation from China. Under these circumstances, it is assumed that both China and North Korea may have found it burdensome to put this sensitive issue on the table. As for the six-party talks, the North Korean leader reportedly said he was hoping to create a favorable environment for the resumption of the six-way talks. But diplomatic experts say Kim’s remarks are not convincing enough to be interpreted as a signal for restarting the stalled dialogue.

It is significant that Chairman Kim expressed his opinion about the nuclear issue in front of top Chinese officials. But he said he would make efforts to create an environment to realize Pyongyang’s purposes, rather than suggesting a specific timetable for the six-party talks. Maybe, the North Korean leader was simply delivering his nation’s position to China or stressing the need for closer cooperation with China in order to persuade the U.S. No negative comments were made about the six-party talks during the Hu-Kim summit, but I don’t see any positive signals, either. Preparing for the resumption of the six-party talks, South Korea should watch how China reacts to the result of the investigation into the Cheonan case, what subsequent efforts China makes to reconvene the multilateral talks, and whether North Korea and the U.S. hold additional dialogue.

Meanwhile, some are suspecting that diplomatic friction is developing between South Korea and China, regarding the North Korean leader’s trip to China. Vice Foreign Minister Shin Kak-soo summoned China’s ambassador to South Korea Zhang Xinsen on May 3, the first day of Kim Jong-il’s China visit, to relay Seoul’s regret over Kim’s visit. The following day, Unification Minister Hyun In-taek met with the Chinese ambassador and stressed that China needs to play a responsible role now more than ever before. There are several reasons South Korea is voicing displeasure with Beijing over the timing of Kim’s trip to China. China accepted Kim amid the deepening suspicion of North Korea’s involvement in the sinking of the South Korean warship. Also, South Korea is disappointed that China dropped no hint about Kim’s visit, which Seoul thinks mars trust between South Korea and China to some extent. But Professor Yu says it’s more important for Seoul to be committed to building a strategic partnership with China in a pragmatic way, rather than making a sensitive response to the North Korean leader’s visit to China.

For South Korea, the most important task right now is to figure out exactly what caused the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan. Cooperation with China is absolutely necessary for a new diplomatic order in Northeast Asia, in line with the resumption of the six-party talks, and for the establishment of a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. Seoul needs to strengthen cooperation with China even further, in consideration of strategic dialogue between South Korea and the U.S. and that of China and the U.S. Once South Korea settles the problems on the Cheonan case, it’s necessary to redefine relations with North Korea and create new momentum for inter-Korean dialogue for peace and stability in the region.

In the wake of the tragic sinking of the South Korean naval ship and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s China visit, rampant speculation surrounds the future diplomatic situation in this part of the world. Many experts agree that the involved countries have just entered a diplomatic tussle surrounding the six-party talks and the South Korean naval disaster. Now is the time for the countries involved to the North Korea nuclear issue, including South Korea, to exercise their wisdom to bring about pragmatic progress in diverting the nuclear row and to promote regional peace.


[Interview] Defector Group Launches Restaurant Specializing in N. Korean Traditional Food
Employees at the restaurant are busy receiving orders and explaining the menu. This restaurant, “Ryugyeong-ok,” opened in Gongdeok-dong in Seoul on April 28. It looks like an ordinary eatery, but this restaurant, specializing in North Korean traditional food, is a social enterprise set up by N.K. Intellectuals Solidarity, an academic society for North Korean defectors. A few newcomers from North Korea have opened restaurants as a way of starting their own businesses, but this marks the first time that a group of new North Korean settlers have entered the restaurant business to promote public interest. Here’s Mr. Gwak Myeong-il, who is in charge of overall restaurant management.

The city of Pyongyang has long been known as another name, Ryugyeong. Actually, there is Ryugyeong Hotel in Pyongyang. We set up this restaurant, Ryugyeong-ok, in hopes of introducing the unique flavors and scents of North Korean traditional food to the South Korean public. Unemployment among North Korean defectors is a serious problem in South Korea. We hired four defectors for this eatery to help them regain confidence and live better lives as employees of a decent restaurant.

This restaurant is committed to reproducing the unique taste of North Korean dishes, as the defectors enjoyed in their home country. It is said chef Ahn Hye-suk used to sell naengmyeon, the refreshing cold noodle dish, in Hamgeung, the home of this cuisine. Here, customers can enjoy the authentic naengmyeon indigenous to Hamheung, which is famous for chewy noodles and clear, light broth. Other local specialties include Pyongyang warm noodles, Cheongjin frozen pollack soup, boiled rice served in soup found in the marketplace in Wonsan and Gaeseong dumpling soup. Mr. Gwak recommends the following menu for those who have never tried North Korean food before.

For customers who will taste North Korean food for the first time, I recommend sikhae, salted and fermented flat fish. South Koreans often mistake this for sikhye, a sweet drink made from fermented rice, because the names of the two dishes are pronounced similarly. To make the North Korean food, flat fish or pollacks are seasoned with kimchi or vinegar and fermented. It is one of the representative North Korean foods, which isn’t easy to find in South Korea. A full-course local specialty meal includes sundae, which is Korean-style blood sausage, oysters, boiled pork wrapped in lettuce, bean paste soup and indigenous North Korean sauces. Many customers say these traditional North Korean dishes have unique flavors.

Thanks to its unique North Korean menu, the restaurant has many steady customers, from North Korean defectors hoping to reminisce about the food they ate in their home country to office workers in the neighborhood. Apart from introducing North Korean food, the defectors’ group has another reason to open this restaurant. It plans to raise funds for an alternative elementary school for children from North Korea. The envisioned school is to provide accommodations and meals to students so their parents are free to work without worrying about their children. Part of the proceeds from the restaurant will also be used to help out North Korean newcomers in difficulty.

30 percent of the revenue from the restaurant will be used to assist some 200 elderly North Korean settlers living alone in Seoul and in the adjacent Gyeonggi areas, as well as teenage defectors. We’re considering inviting the lonely senior citizens suffering from homesickness to this restaurant to treat them to delicious food and help them resolve their urgent daily problems.