BEIJING (AFP) - China’s President Hu Jintao visited the North Korean embassy in Beijing on Tuesday to offer his condolences on the death of Kim Jong-il, the official Xinhua news agency said.
China is North Korea‘s closest ally, and just hours after the announcement of Kim’s death on Monday, Beijing said it would work with Pyongyang to ensure the “peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the region.”
Analysts say China is likely to strengthen support for its impoverished, nuclear-armed neighbor as it seeks to avoid a potentially destabilizing power struggle in Pyongyang.
Little is known about Kim‘s successor, his third son Kim Jong-un, but there are fears he has not had enough time to cement control over the country’s government and military.
Jong-un, who is in his late 20s, was given senior ruling party posts and made a four-star general in September 2010, despite his lack of any military experience.
Hu‘s visit came after China’s Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi met with the North Korean charge d‘affaires Pak Myong-ho in Beijing late Monday, according to an earlier Xinhua report.
Yang offered his condolences and expressed support for Kim Jong-un, according to Xinhua.
Streets outside the embassy were blocked to cars and bicycles on Tuesday morning as Hu visited.
The only pedestrians allowed inside the cordoned area were North Koreans clutching bunches of white chrysanthemums wrapped in clear plastic.
Police told an AFP reporter at the scene that the embassy would remain off limits to non-North Koreans for at least one day.
“You can’t have a visa today,” a policeman told AFP.
“Their leader has died.”
The Golden Garden Flower Shop across the street from the embassy -- one of the few florists in the area -- was doing a roaring trade as dozens of North Koreans flocked to the store to buy bunches and wreathes of fresh flowers.
The floor was covered with debris and piles of flowers were stacked on tables in the cramped store as three people worked non-stop to make flower arrangements for the mourners.
A florist told AFP that business had been “very good” since Kim‘s death.
“Can’t you see? It‘s busy,” the woman told AFP as she frantically cut flower stems.
