North Korean leader Kim Jong Il visited China on May 3-7 and met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing on May 5. It was his first visit abroad following a stroke in 2008 and his first visit to China since January 2006. His fifth visit to China since becoming North Korea's top leader in 1998 came as the ill-fated redenomination of North Korea's currency, the won, in November has devastated people's livelihoods.
Given his country's bad economic situation and serious food shortages, Mr. Kim apparently wanted economic assistance, including food, energy and investment, from China. He appears to have secured a certain degree of assistance as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said China will push joint-venture projects involving Chinese and North Korean enterprises and quicken infrastructure construction in border areas.
As for the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program, it seems that Mr. Kim stopped short of declaring his country will return to the talks, from which Pyongyang withdrew in April 2009. According to China's Xinhua News Agency, Mr. Hu and Mr. Kim agreed that the parties to the talks "should demonstrate sincerity and make positive efforts for pushing forward the talks."