Jiang hails success of N Korea trip

Jiang urged his North Korean couterpart to resume talks with Seoul

PYONGYANG, North Korea (CNN) -- Chinese President Jiang Zemin has hailed as a success his three day trip to North Korea, during which he urged the reclusive regime to open itself to the outside world.

North Korea pulled out all the stops for Jiang Zemin, laying on the kind of choregraphed display of mass adulation commonly reserved for its own leader, Kim Jong Il.

But behind the pageantry and meetings remained the one clear message from the Chinese leader -- that reclusive North Korea should open up more to the rest of the world.

The Chinese news agency Xinhua said Jiang urged the North Koreans to intensify contact with the US and Japan and to resume long-stalled talks with South Korea.

COUNTRY PROFILE At a glance: China Provided by CountryWatch.com   COUNTRY PROFILE At a glance: North Korea Provided by CountryWatch.com    CNN.com Asia More news from our Asia edition

There was also a Chinese call for North Korea to join the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, due to be held in October in Shanghai.

The forum will be attended by leaders from throughout Asia, as well as U.S. President George W Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But the tone of the meeting was not entirely conciliatory towards the West.

Jiang, on his first visit to Pyongyang in 11 years, also discussed with his North Korean counterpart ways and means of countering Washington's deployment of its controversial anti-missile system.

Clouds over 'sunshine policy'

For Kim Jong Il, the summit with Jiang Zemin is the latest in a series of high-profile diplomatic moves.

During the summer, Kim spent almost a month touring Russia.

VIDEO CNN's Sohn Jie-ae has more on the resignations in South Korea Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Earlier in the year, he visited China, looking at how Beijing's market-style reforms might be applied to his own floundering economy.

But as the North Korean leader has heightened his international profile, in South Korea, President Kim Dae Jung's policy of engagement with the North is in tatters.

On Monday, Kim's key aide on north-south issues was ousted in what amounted to a parliamentary vote of no confidence in the South Korean leader's so-called "sunshine policy."

A day later the entire South Korean cabinet resigned -- and with Kim Dae Jung entering the last year of his presidency, many observers say he is increasingly being perceived as a lame duck.

Ironically, the political crisis in Seoul came as North Korea offered to resume dialogue with the south on the eve of Jiang Zemin's arrival.

But with South Korea's fragile ruling coalition disintegrating, it is far from clear that Kim Jong Il or his envoys will be meeting their South Korean counterparts any time soon.