Kim Jong-un's China visit divides ruling, opposition parties over North Korea policy

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's surprise visit to China on Saturday has drawn sharply divergent reactions from South Korea's political parties.

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Hyun-jung, appearing Monday on KBS Radio 1's "Jeongyeok Sisa," described the trip as "a multipurpose visit," saying Kim appeared to have pursued several goals at once — reaffirming the North Korea-China blood alliance, signaling a desire to expand economic cooperation, dispelling recent rumors about his health, and laying groundwork related to a possible North Korea-US summit on the sidelines of next month's APEC summit, though she stressed nothing on that front was confirmed.

Kim went on to say she believed the visit also carried an intent to raise Kim Jong-un's diplomatic value by demonstrating that he could maintain blood-alliance ties with both Russia and China, amid talk that relations with Beijing had grown somewhat distant.

People Power Party former floor leader Kim Sung-tae, appearing on the same program, said there was a possibility Kim Jong-un had sought China's prior understanding ahead of preparations for North Korea-US dialogue, but added that the National Intelligence Service's apparent failure to gather advance intelligence on the visit warranted serious reflection.

Kim said the Lee Jae Myung government needed to redraw its approach to inter-Korean relations, adding that the issue was "not something to be judged solely by listening to people like Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young or NIS Director Lee Jong-seok."

Democratic Party lawmaker Yun Geon-young, who leads his party's side on the National Assembly intelligence committee, told MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Seon Jip-jung" on Monday that interpreting the China visit as being aimed at a North Korea-US summit would be "too much of a stretch," but said it could be read as a signal that Kim Jong-un, who had stayed quiet since the Hanoi no-deal, was ready to move in earnest. He said the possibility of a North Korea-US summit had not entirely disappeared.

The two camps also staked out contrasting positions in statements issued Sunday. Democratic Party floor spokesperson Jeon Eun-su said North Korea was continuing military cooperation with Russia, widening trade with China and keeping the door open to dialogue with the United States, warning that if inter-Korean ties remained severed while the major powers around the peninsula discussed its future among themselves, South Korea could find itself outside the negotiating room, receiving the outcome after the fact.

Jeon went on to say South Korea should keep the Korea-US alliance as the central axis of its diplomacy while expanding space for cooperation with every country without making enemies of any.

Jeon rebuffed the People Power Party's criticism — that the government was standing by while North Korea, China and Russia broadened their strategic cooperation to check the Korea-US alliance — calling it a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

The opposition sharpened its attack, arguing that as North Korea drew closer to China and Russia to counter the Korea-US alliance, the Lee Jae Myung government's diplomacy was drifting without strategy, relying solely on North Korea's goodwill.

People Power Party floor chief spokesperson Choi Eun-seok noted that Kim Jong-un, whose death had been rumored, made a surprise visit to China, met with Wang Huning — ranked fourth in China's power hierarchy and chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference — to discuss expanding economic cooperation, paid tribute to Chinese troops who fought in the Korean War, and returned home the same day.

Choi said the broadening of strategic cooperation among North Korea, China and Russia to check the Korea-US alliance was "by no means a trivial matter," and criticized Cheong Wa Dae for responding to Kim's surprise visit with only a boilerplate statement that it was "closely monitoring related developments."

He said North Korea's strategy toward South Korea had already fundamentally changed — cutting off the road to Seoul while throwing open the road to Beijing — and argued that the opening of the new Yalu River bridge and Kim's China visit starkly illustrated that contrast.

Five-term lawmaker Na Kyung-won wrote on Facebook that Kim's China visit was a display to the world of North Korea-China closeness, following the dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia and the tightening of North Korea-Russia ties. "Kim Jong-un is now raising his value with China and Russia in each hand and nuclear weapons at his back," she wrote, criticizing the Lee Jae Myung government for what she called the result of appeasing Pyongyang.

Reform Party chief spokesperson Lee Dong-hun said in a statement that Kim's surprise China visit signaled an expansion of North Korea-China economic cooperation, and that a North Korea-US summit on the sidelines of next month's APEC summit in China was being discussed as a possibility. "But where, actually, is South Korea?" he asked.

Lee said inter-Korean dialogue had long been severed and an unsettling undercurrent was running through the Korea-US relationship, warning that while North Korea was joining hands with China and the United States was keeping open the possibility of talks with North Korea, South Korea had yet to resolve even its trust issues with Washington.