The Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, arrived in North Korea for talks with its reclusive leader Kim Jong Il yesterday amid hopes of advancing nuclear disarmament by the pariah state after months of tension.

Mr Kim made the unusual gesture of greeting Mr Wen in person, embracing him as he arrived at Pyongyang airport. The visit appeared to end one of the worst periods in relations between East Asia’s two nuclear powers. The countries — once described by Mao Zedong as being “as close as lips and teeth” — have had frosty relations since April, when North Korea launched an intercontinental rocket, which was followed in May by an underground nuclear test. China ended support for its long-time ally and backed condemnation and sanctions by the UN Security Council.

The visit by Mr Wen — China’s second most senior leader — to Pyongyang suggests that differences have been overcome and North Korea is ready to resume some kind of negotiations, after abandoning Chinesesponsored disarmament talks in April.

“Respectable comrade Wen Jiabao’s visit to our country this time has huge meaning in its historical timing and political significance,” a commentary in North Korea’s state run Workers’ Newspaper said yesterday.

Officially, the visit marks the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the countries. Publicly, China’s foreign ministry has said only that Mr Wen will sign agreements on economics, trade, tourism and education. But privately, the main subject of discussion is sure to be North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, and the conditions under which it might be abandoned.

North Korea has said that it will never return to the six-party talks, which brought together China, Japan, Russia and the US, as well as North and South Korea. Above all, it wants direct talks with the US. Mr Wen will be seeking a compromise formula.

After arriving in Pyongyang, Mr Wen held talks with the man who bears the title of North Korea’s premier, Kim Yong Il. But it is Kim Jong Il — no relation — who will make any decision about negotiations. North Korea’s “Dear Leader” looked vigorous and healthy as he embraced his Chinese visitor. His appearance strengthens the impression that he has recovered from an apparent stroke last year, which left him looking haggard and ill.

North Korea was outraged when China signed up to a UN Security Council condemnation of its rocket launch in April. China also supported sanctions following the test in May.

In July it seized 70kg of vanadium, a metal used in making shells, which was being smuggled into North Korea in fruit boxes. Unconfirmed media reports in South Korea suggest that China has restricted exports of other materials with military applications, and the pressure may have achieved results: it was in August, soon after the vanadium incident, that North Korea began conciliatory gestures towards the international community, including the release of two female American journalists arrested for crossing the border. Mr Wen is the first Chinese Prime Minister to visit North Korea since 1991. “Wen is not going to leave empty-handed,” a foreign diplomat told The Times in Pyongyang last week.

Stormy friendship

1950 Chinese soldiers fought with North Korea during the war against South Korea and UN forces

1961 The two countries signed a treaty of friendship, co-operation and mutual assistance

1966-69 China tried to export its Cultural Revolution to North Korea. Red Guards denounced Kim Il Sung as a “fat revisionist” and broadcast propaganda along the border. In 1969, there were armed clashes

1970 China apologised, taking responsibility for border clashes

1992 China established relations with South Korea. North Korea cut ties and restricted border crossings

2006 China backed UN Security Council Resolution 1718, which imposed sanctions on Pyongyang after a nuclear test

Sources: Council on Foreign Relations and Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars

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