FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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D.P.R.K. Chairman Kim and President Xi Jinping Had Packed Agenda in Beijing

Jan. 9, 2019 (EIRNS)—D.P.R.K. Chairman Kim Jong-un departed Beijing today by private train, after a 27-hour visit, with a packed schedule of social and diplomatic meetings. Kim and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, attended a gala banquet the evening of Jan. 8, his 35th birthday, held at the Great Hall of the People. Afterward, was a “grand variety show” marking the occasion of the 70th anniversary of China-D.P.R.K. diplomatic relations.

Today, Kim and Xi lunched at the historic Beijing Hotel, and Kim visited the traditional pharmaceutical firm, Tong Ren Tang Chinese Medicine Company, in business for 300 years. Global Times suggested Pyongyang “may be eyeing cooperation opportunities with traditional Chinese medicine,” because medicinal materials are not sanctioned. Furthermore, “North Korea has rich resources of medicinal herbs, especially Korean ginseng,” Lü Chao, a research fellow at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences in Shenyang was quoted as saying, therefore it could play a role in pharmaceutical industry cooperation between China and North Korea.

No details have yet been released of the substance of the various talks held between the two leaders.