N. Korean leader did not visit Seoul due to Bush's election: Chinese document

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il did not keep his promise to visit Seoul after a landmark inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang because of George W. Bush's election as U.S. president in 2001, according to a recent memorandum by former Chinese President Jiang Zemin on the diplomatic efforts he made during his presidency.

Titled "For a Better World: Memorandum on Jiang Zemin's Diplomatic Trips," the book, published here on Sunday, said that the North Korean leader disclosed the reason why he did not make the visit as pledged during his historic talks with then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung in Pyongyang in June 2000.

According to the book, Kim explained this to Jiang at summit talks in the North's capital in September 2000. Jiang visited Pyongyang from Sept. 3-4 that year. At that time, Kim told Jiang that a number of changes in international politics brought on by Bush's election in January 2001 made it difficult for him to expect any good results if he were to make a return visit to Seoul, the book said.

Kim told the Chinese leader that he originally thought he could use the Seoul visit to show to the world that Koreans were fully capable of resolving Korean Peninsula issues by themselves, according to the book.

The North Korean leader also disclosed his position on the opening of diplomatic relations between Seoul and Beijing while meeting with the then-Chinese ambassador to Pyongyang, soon after the three-year mourning period for his father Kim Il-sung was over in July 1997, the book said.

This was some five years after China had ignored vehement criticism from the North and formed diplomatic ties with South Korea in August 1992. Kim is alleged to have told the Chinese envoy at their meeting that he had no objection to the Seoul-Beijing ties, the book said.

Kim was cited as saying, "The opening of diplomatic ties between Seoul and Beijing was decided by the Chinese Communist Party, and for us (the North), we don't have (even the) slightest opinion on that. I, for myself, also have no opinion on that. It's fine so long as the Pyongyang-Beijing friendship does not change."

Beijing, July 31 (Yonhap News)