China vows to stand by isolated North Korea

BEIJING (Reuters) – China pledged to strengthen bonds with isolated North Korea on Monday, calling their relationship a boon to peace, while reports of swoops on North Korean ships underscored strains behind a recent easing of tension.

The renewed courting between the two communist neighbors came in messages between Chinese President Hu Jintao and North Korea’s top leader, Kim Jong-il, who on Sunday greeted Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the start of a visit intended to bolster bilateral relations.

The messages marked 60 years since the countries established formal ties on October 6, 1949, and made no mention of the North’s nuclear weapons program, stressing instead their focus on shoring up sometimes tense ties.

“History demonstrates that developing China-North Korea relations is in keeping with the fundamental interests and shared wishes of both countries’ people,” said the congratulatory message from China, issued by the official Xinhua news agency. “It also benefits protecting regional peace and stability.”

In a message to China, Kim Jong-il and other North Korean leaders said relations would “constantly consolidate and develop,” Xinhua reported.

The mutual wooing between the world’s third biggest economy and the impoverished, reclusive North sets apart Beijing’s approach to Pyongyang from the harder line long favored by Washington, Tokyo and other regional capitals.

Other governments have pushed China to use its crucial energy and food supplies to the North to put more pressure on Pyongyang to curb nuclear weapons development. Beijing has been angered by Pyongyang‘s nuclear threats, but said repeatedly that sanctions will not work, and only renewed negotiations can bring progress.

Analysts said Wen’s visit, however, was unlikely to yield more than opaque promises on the nuclear dispute.

“I think the chances of real progress are small,” said Zhang Liangui, an expert on North Korea at the Central Party School, an influential state institute in Beijing.

“Through visits like this, North Korea is mostly trying to create the impression that other countries respect and heed it, that it’s a world power. Of course, that’s not true, but the impression helps its leader bolster his authority.”

Pyongyang has sometimes appeared prickly about the size and influence of its much bigger neighbor, which has backed United Nations resolutions condemning North Korea’s nuclear tests.

But Kim made a rare appearance to greet Wen at the start of his trip, showing how serious is about ties with China. Kim is widely believed to have suffered a serious illness last year.

On Monday, Wen visited a “martyrs’ cemetery” for Chinese soldiers killed in the Korean War, when Beijing supported beleaguered North Korean communist forces, Xinhua reported.

WHERE NEXT FOR NUCLEAR NEGOTIATIONS?

Fresh reports on detention of North Korean sea traffic serve as a reminder that the country remains shunned by most of its neighbors and under international sanctions.

South Korea‘s Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported on Monday that South Korean authorities had seized four cargo containers belonging to North Korea under U.N. sanctions imposed in response to its missile and nuclear tests.

The reported seizure of the North’s cargo would be the first by Seoul under a June Security Council resolution. South Korea’s spy agency and its maritime police made no comment on the report.

Indian warships detained a North Korean cargo ship on Friday for dropping anchor in Indian waters without permission, a navy spokesman said. He said the ship was empty and nothing incriminating was found.

Despite the rousing welcome in Pyongyang for Wen, the two sides appear divided over the future of six-party nuclear disarmament talks that Beijing has hosted since 2003, said Zhang, the Beijing-based expert.

China wants North Korea to return to the intermittent talks, an important platform for Beijing to show its diplomatic prowess.

The talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States ground to a halt about a year ago, with Pyongyang saying it would no longer attend the negotiations aimed at curtailing its nuclear weapons capability in return for aid.

North Korea’s Premier Kim Yong-Il — no relation to his supreme leader — told Wen that Pyongyang was open to bilateral or multilateral talks on its nuclear weapons program. But echoing recent statements by North Korean officials, Premier Kim made no express endorsement of the six-party talks.

“North Korea is much more interested in bilateral talks with the United States, or some multilateral format that excludes Japan, even maybe China.” said Zhang. “That’s an important point of division for the visit,” he said of Wen’s trip.

(Editing by Jonathan Thatcher and Ron Popeski)