The Republic of Korea (ROK) in the south, the United States, the People’s Republic of China and almost all the other countries of the world appear to be determined to discourage Chairman Kim Jong-un of North Korea from continuing nuclear armament and blackmailing.

However, Chairman Kim seems to be paying little attention to such a concerted international move whereas he continues to make military provocations and nuclear blackmailing against the ROK.
In the eyes of most people in the ROK, China seems to have the key to successfully persuading Chairman Kim to behave as China has a much larger influence on North Korea than any other country in the world--although it appears that Kim Jong-un does not listen to the Chinese leadership as much as two his predecessors did.
All the major Korean-language dailies flashed all-but-banner headlines on April 2, 2016 quoting President Xi Jinping as promising, “We will fully implement our promise of sanctions against North Korea and so no THAAD” (Dong-A Ilbo).
In the case of Chosun Ilbo claiming the largest circulation in Korea, it quoted President Xi as saying, “We will control North Korea and you stop trying to deploy THAAD on the Korean peninsula.”
In the case of Joongang Ilbo, the Korean-language daily used five of the entire six columns across the front page saying, “Xi Jinping guarantees his restraint of North Korea.” Korea’s leading business daily Maeil Kyungje also in a large headline on the front page quoted President Park as saying in Chinese characters Musin Bullip (無信不立) meaning, “Without trust, you cannot do anything!”
Chosun said, “President Park Geun-hye and President Xi Jinping of China met with each other in Washington DC on March 31, 2016 where Xi promised Park that China will fully abide by the United Nations resolution to impose sanctions on North Korea.”
In the article, President Xi was quoted as saying to President Park, “All the member countries of the United Nations Security Council fully implement the United Nations resolution on North Korea. To President Obama of the United States, President Xi was quoted as saying, “The People’s Republic of China and the United States have agreed to strictly and fully adhere to the provisions of the United Nations resolution of sanctions on North Korea.”
President Obama was quoted as saying at the beginning of his statement on the US-China summit meeting, “President Xi and I are faithfully working together to attain the aim of denuclearizing the Korean peninsular.”
On the morning of April 2, 2016, all major Korean-language daily newspapers ran large headlines, some using all-but-one column space on the front page covering Xi’s statement on the Korean peninsular. For excerpts from the editorials of major Korean-language dailies on April 2 and 1, see pages 12-15.

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