Before North Korea Leader Kim Jong Il left Beijing, the Chinese official media blocked some related news coverage about his visit.

Xinhua News Agency, an official news outlet in China, issued three announcements in one breath at 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, immediately after Kim Jong Il returned to Korea. This news validated, albeit in an indirect way, that Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s Secretary-General of the Labor Party and the Director of the National Defense, paid an unofficial visit to China. Just as outsiders expected, the Chinese media only released the news about his visit after Kim Jong IL had left Beijing.

The news indicated that Kim Jong Il and Hu Jintao both agreed to continue the six-way talks about North Korea’s nuclear program. It also affirmed the positive direction of the three-way talks between China, Korea and the United States, and in this second round of the meeting of the six-way talk (China, North Korea, United States, Russia, Japan and South Korea). However, other reports from France and other outsiders wonder whether Beijing’s second round of six-way talk hasn’t, in fact, turned into a deadlock. Some analysts think that the official Xinhua News Agency report on Kim Jong Il’s visit indicates that, in this visit, Kim Jong Il has reached some basic understanding with China. The Agence France-Presse (AFP) stated that Kim Jong Il has already agreed to keep an open mind towards the six-way talks. The international media reported that China urges Kim Jong Il to soften his stance towards the United States. Jiang Zemin told Kim Jong Il that there was little possibility of an attack from the United States if Korea gave up its development of nuclear weapons.

In addition, when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with Kim Jong Il, he suggested that Kim Jong Il learn about economic reforms from China and South Korea. It is reported that Wen Jiabao very politely told Kim Jong Il, “If North Korea really wants to reform and open up abroad, it should not only learn from China’s experience, but also should send some people to South Korea to take a look at the influence of capitalism there.”

On Wednesday, the day before Kim Jong Il left Beijing, he visited some Beijing suburban districts such as Fangshan District, Han Village and He Village, places with a reputation for being model villages in a developing socialist economy.

Kim Jong Il stayed in China for four days during which officials maintained rigorous public security and a tight clamp on reporting to prevent news leaks.

An officer from Han Village’s Administration Office told the reporter, “Today, let’s take a look at our socialist model village. How can the experience of this village be used as reference in North Korea?”

The officer replied, “Your question is a political issue. We dare not say how this can be used.”

According to a villager, Mr. Yang, Han Village was under martial law all day. Other sources say that martial was enforced as early as 8:00 a.m.”

In addition, during Kim Jong Il’s visit to both the Han and He Village, village police detained foreign reporters following Kim Jong Il. The police asked for IDs and then escorted the reporters to a police car and sent them to a neighboring police station for interrogations. Police officials from both villages said that they released the reporters by Wednesday afternoon.

The police said that the reporters needed to follow a certain rule in gathering the news.

The police commented, “We do control news-gathering. We have a certain line that cannot be crossed. On one side of that line, you can report the news. On the other side of that line, you cannot.”

In addition, there were countless armed police and police stations along both sides of the road from the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, the place where Kim Jong Il stayed, to Han Village and He Village. There was only one lane open for traffic on the entire four-lane freeway.
Kong Quan, the spokesman from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, did not even want to confirm Kim Jong Il’s visit on Tuesday. Kong Quan only said that there were no sources that could deny the leader’s visit to China.