TOKYO -- Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, arrived in North Korea Monday after a visit with Chinese leaders in Peking, the Korean Central News Agency reported.
The KCNA report said a 'welcome function' took place at the Pyongyang airport. It gave no further details.
Arafat came to North Korea on a 'goodwill visit' at the invitation of President Kim Il Sung, the dispatch said.
The guerrilla chief's arrival in Pyongyang coincided with an official visit to North Korea by Hu Yaobang, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.
In Peking, Arafat met Monday with Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and reiterated his call for a U.N.-sponsored peace conference 'of all parties concerned' in the Middle East conflict.
In a more than one hour meeting with Deng, Arafat won a pledge of continued Chinese support 'for the just cause of the Palestinian people and Palestinian Liberation Organization,' a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
'This position of ours is not created just today. Over the past 20 years we have always done so and we will continue to stick to this position until your victory,' Deng was quoted as saying.
During a Peking news conference after the meeting, Arafat was asked if his call for a Middle East peace conference under U.N. auspices included the participation of Israel.
'What I have mentioned is that we are ready to participate in an international conference under the Security Council of the United Nations umbrella through which all ... parties concerned participate, including the permanent members of the Security Council,' he said.
'We hope the big powers will be present and we were told yesterday that the Chinese leadership has declared their approval of this subject.'
Arafat was quoted last week by the French magazine, Nouvel Observateur, as saying he sought 'direct negotiations between the Israelis and us under the auspices of the United Nations.'
He said the negotiations would be aimed at mutual Israeli-Palestinian recognition. The Arafat offer was swiftly rejected last week by Israel.
U.S. policy is not to have formal contacts with the PLO until it recognizes Israel's right to exist.
Except for pledges of continued moral support, Arafat did not say what his China visit accomplished and would not comment on whether Peking offered more military aid to the guerrilla organization.
China has given more than $1 million in military and medical aid to the PLO in the last two years.
