UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed hope today over the meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying such steps will help lead towards the peaceful denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
Bracing for an unprecedented meeting with US President Donald Trump, North Korea's reclusive dictator Kim made the secret trip to Beijing to seek Xi's backing while pledging support for denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
After a day-long silence, China today acknowledged Kim's visit apparently after his bullet proof green and yellow train, by which he travelled, left China's borders and entered North Korea.
Guterres's deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters here
that "the Secretary General welcomes any steps that could lead towards the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. And will do so in this case".
Haq was asked about the Secretary General's response to the crucial meeting between the Xi and Kim.
Haq said the Secretary General "very much hopes" that all of the recent positive signals will help lead towards the peaceful denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
"Ultimately we want to make sure that all of these steps can lead to a sustainable peace and the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula" in line with the UN Security Council resolutions, he said.
Kim paid a four-day "unofficial visit" to Beijing from Sunday to Wednesday - his first journey abroad since taking power in 2011 and his first reported meeting with a foreign head of state -- at the invitation of Xi, state-run Xinhua news agency reported in Beijing.
China, a key broker pushing for six-party talks between the US, North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia, was on tenterhooks as Kim began directly responding to the overtures of South Korea and Trump himself, in an apparent snub to Beijing for tightening the UN sanctions by halting the supplies of oil, coal and other essentials.
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