President Hu complets 3-day Pyongyang visit
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-10-30 15:51

Chinese President Hu Jintao left Pyongyang on Sunday morning after completing a three-day visit for meetings with North Korean leaders, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, as well as several thousand North Koreans, saw Hu off at Pyongyang's airport, Xinhua reported. China Central Television said in a report in the early afternoon that Hu has returned to Beijing.

Kim told Hu in their talks on Friday that his country will return to the next round of six-party talks on the North's nuclear weapons as promised, according to Chinese media.

In the last round of six-way talks in September, North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear programs, rejoin an international nuclear treaty and allow nuclear inspections in exchange for energy assistance and security assurances.

But parties to the talks -- particularly the United States and North Korea -- remain deeply divided over which steps should be taken first.

In their first talks in a year and a half, Kim and Hu also reaffirmed their countries' ties and agreed to continue high-level exchanges, expand areas of cooperation and promote economic and trade relations, according to CCTV.

Hu's visit was the first to North Korea by a Chinese leader since a trip by then President Jiang Zemin in September 2001. The trip was also the first by Hu as president of his country and as Communist Party chief.