U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing last November. The Chinese president made a symbolic visit to an area between China and North Korea this week. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo

SEOUL, July 17 (UPI) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a symbolic visit to a neglected area of the China-North Korea border on Thursday in a move that analysts see as a signal to Pyongyang.

The visit to northeast China's Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture was the first by a Chinese head of state in eight years. The prefecture's ethnic Korean population has some family ties to North Koreans across the border, but economic development has been slow due to its isolated geography, South Korean newspaper Maeil Business reported.


After landing in Yanbian's main airport on Chinese "Air Force One," Xi visited a museum to learn about ethnic Korean culture in China and watched senior citizens dance to the lyrics of "The Red Sun Shines the Frontier," a popular Chinese communist song.

"I always listened to this song several decades ago, when I was a village secretary," Xi said, according to Xinhua.

Xi's unusual visit to an area that has registered economic growth far below China's national average could be a sign the Chinese president is looking to resume friendlier bilateral relations with North Korea, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

Xi has not met once with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un since assuming office in 2013, but already has met twice with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

Yanbian, located in China's northeast Jilin province, could play a key role in Xi's plan to develop the hinterland that involves participation from North Korea, Russia and China.

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The Tumen River Delta International Tourism Area is under development with North Korea, Russia and China involved in its construction. But these and other projects have stalled, due to lack of reform inside North Korea.

During his Wednesday visit, Xi visited the office of Zhongche, a recently merged railway company that could be an integral part of his "Silk Road Initiative" to improve China's land-based links to Europe and Asian neighbors.

Analysts in South Korea said Friday Xi's move may be to appease a borderland population that has grown increasingly worried after desperate and hungry North Koreans, some in military uniform, have either killed or attacked Chinese nationals since last September.

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