North Korea kept a low profile at the opening of a summit in Beijing on China’s new Silk Road plan on Sunday, after the United States warned China Pyongyang’s attendance could affect the participation of other countries.
North Korea’s attendance at China’s biggest diplomatic event this year raised further eyebrows after Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile early on Sunday, in defiance of calls to rein in its weapons program.
North Korea’s delegation to the meeting on what China formally calls the Belt and Road initiative is being led by Kim Yong Jae, minister of external economic relations, according to the state run KCNA news agency, which has so far given no details of who he met or what he said.
A pool photograph of the opening ceremony at which Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech, showed Kim arriving together with White House adviser Matt Pottinger, the U. S. representative to the talks.
It is not clear if Kim or Pottinger spoke to each other.
It is also not clear which session of the summit the North Koreans were attending, and China has not given details of the attendees. There were about six afternoon sessions focusing on different areas from policy coordination and financial integration to think-tank exchanges.
One diplomatic source said they were probably in the trade session, attended by China’s commerce minister, while another said it could have been the policy session, attended by U.
