President Park Geun-hye said Wednesday the Chinese leadership including President Xi Jinping was adamantly opposed to North Korea’s nuclear programs, refuting concerns here that Seoul and Beijing were not eye-to-eye on Pyongyang’s provocation.

“Whenever the issue of the nuclear problem came up in meetings with President Xi and Premier Li Keqiang, they were adamantly against it,” Park told chief editorial writers of major media during a luncheon.

With regard to the reason for watering down such adamancy in a joint statement by instead stating their joint goal for “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” Park said it was in consideration of China’s position.

Park visited China last month and agreed with Xi to closely cooperate in dealing with North Korea, who expressed support for Park’s trust-building process for the Korean Peninsula and the peace initiative for the region. They also agreed to bolster exchanges on security, regional, economic and cultural issues.

But critics had viewed Park’s visit as a mediocre success in terms of earning full cooperation from China to deal with the North, citing how the joint communiqu failed to elucidate their joint intolerance to the North’s nuclear development.

Park reassured that she shared a certain common understanding with Xi over the problem of North Korea.

Quoting Li, Park also said that North Korea’s nuclear program was realistically problematic for Chinese residents near the Amnok River on the border between North Korea and China, with the water in the area being tested as showing lower quality upon Pyongyang’s defiant nuclear test.

North Korea has pushed itself into further isolation by conducting the third nuclear test in February, inviting harsher international sanctions joined by China.

To a question on whether the current government would be open to an informal or backdoor contact with the North for progress in relations, Park reiterated her emphasis on building trust first, saying, “At this moment it is a very difficult situation to even accumulate the basic level of trust.”

She also mentioned Pyongyang’s habitually harsh verbal rhetoric against South Koreans and warned that the North should watch how it speaks in order to build trust.

Domestically, Park talked about the need to fortify the education of Korean history and Hanja, or Chinese characters.

“It is my personal view that such a vital subject (of Korean history) should be included in the evaluation criteria (at schools). I will be discussing with academia and the education field in order to reflect (Korean history) into evaluation somehow,” Park said. She said that while including Korean history as one of the college entrance exam items would simplify the matter, that would need further evaluation and discussion to minimize the burden on the students.

Park said she will also be reviewing ways to create easier access for students to learn Hanja.

The government’s latest move to enhance Hanja classes have sparked controversy with civic groups and Hangeul advocates claiming it would hurt efforts to protect the use of Korean language and burden students.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)