General Le Van Cuong: All 3 goals of Mr. Kim Jong-un's visit to China were achieved!

To clarify some issues of public concern, Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with Major General, Associate Professor, Dr. Le Van Cuong - Former Director of the Institute of Strategy and Science of the Ministry of Public Security.

Information about Kim Jong-un's visit to China is broadcast on television in Seoul, South Korea on the morning of March 28. Photo: Reuters

PV:Major General, so the leader of North Korea, after 6 years and 4 months in power, has visited a foreign country for the first time. However, the public is still unclear as to why North Korean President Kim Jong-un visited China on an unofficial visit. Can you explain this?

Major General Le Van Cuong:On March 26, North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un paid a one-day visit to China. It is true that neither China nor North Korea reported the news before or during the visit. On March 27, after the visit ended, Xinhua News Agency confirmed and reported the visit. This was truly a secret and unexpected event. In my opinion, there are two possible explanations.

The first,Both China and North Korea do not want to widely publicize the relationship between North Korea and China. Because the United Nations has had many resolutions to sanction North Korea for nearly 10 years, China is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council but there is still suspicion that North Korea has China's support, so North Korea has not collapsed. The sanctions of the United Nations, directly by the United States, have not had any significant impact on North Korea. Therefore, China and North Korea do not want to show off because this is a relationship that is quite sensitive to international public opinion.

Monday,Maybe it is due to the personality of the North Korean leaders. Previously, President Kim Il Sung (President Kim Jong-un's grandfather) visited the Soviet Union (formerly), visited China, also secretly. Then President Kim Jong Il (President Kim Jong-un's father) visited Russia, visited China, also secretly. Another surprise is that they never travel by plane. On March 26, President Kim Jong-un also traveled on a special train. Is that the personality of a country that has been isolated for many years? A country that is quite closed, so they do not want to have noisy promotions. Because that will only add to the curiosity of the international community, especially countries like Japan and the United States. This is consistent with the personality of the Pyongyang government, consistent with the political and security requirements of both China and North Korea, in the context that this meeting will receive a lot of attention.

PV:COne notable detail is that Chinese media reported that this was an unofficial visit by President Kim Jong-un to China, but through the press images, it shows that President Xi Jinping rolled out the red carpet to welcome the supreme leader of North Korea, and invited Mr. Kim Jong-un to review the honor guard of the Chinese navy, army, and air force?

Major General Le Van Cuong:According to international practice, when it is called an unofficial visit, there is no corresponding diplomatic protocol. Specifically, on April 7, 2017, President Xi Jinping also had a direct meeting with President Donald Trump, which was not a state visit. The reception did not take place at the White House, but was held at the Mar-a-Lago resort of President Trump's family.

However, Chinese President Xi Jinping used formal diplomatic protocol to welcome North Korean President Kim Jong-un, which is an unusual way for China and North Korea to do so. It seems that there is a contradiction between content and form. Perhaps, China and North Korea want to downplay the role of this trip, without the need for fanfare to reduce curiosity, surveillance, and scrutiny. But as the saying goes, “hide the head, reveal the tail.”

Major General Le Van Cuong at the studio of Nghe An Newspaper. Photo: Archive

PV:According to the major general, what is the purpose of Mr. Kim Jong-un's trip?

Major General Le Van Cuong:After 6 years and 4 months in power, Mr. Kim Jong-un organized his first foreign trip and that was an unofficial visit to China. In my opinion, Mr. Kim Jong-un's recent visit had 3 purposes.

The first,Mr. Kim Jong-un visited China to meet domestic demands. That is, through this visit, he will create more unity within the 25 million North Koreans, within the Communist Party of Korea. Recently, there has been public opinion expressing skepticism that the relationship between China and China is entering a period of indifference? Is North Korea moving towards a pro-US, pro-Western orbit? Therefore, this visit is first of all to affirm that the China-North Korea relationship is still the fundamental, loyal relationship, the strongest relationship in North Korea's foreign relations. Through this visit, Chairman Kim Jong-un aims to create unity of perception within the cadres and party members in North Korea.

MondayThrough this visit, Mr. Kim Jong-un also wants to officially affirm to the Communist Party of China and President Xi Jinping that the North Korean leadership can negotiate with Japan, South Korea, the US... but the China-North Korea relationship is still the foundation of all foreign relations of North Korea. North Korea is still a friend, still loyal to China. Therefore, the meeting is also aimed at dispelling the idea that North Korea is looking for another path, leaving China.

TuesdayThis visit takes place before the planned meeting between the North Korean leader and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in April, and with US President Donald Trump in May... Although not announced, it is very likely that Mr. Kim Jong-un will discuss with Mr. Xi Jinping about the issues to be negotiated with South Korea, the United States, and if any, with Japan. At the same time, it is easy to see that after visiting China, Mr. Kim Jong-un will have more strength, more position, and more "baggage" to sit across from any strong opponent like Donald Trump.

If so, then in my opinion, Mr. Kim Jong-un has achieved all three goals. It can be affirmed that the visit to China on March 26 was a wise diplomatic activity of Mr. Kim Jong-un.

PV:Thank you, General!