North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first in-person talks in six years, with the two agreeing to support one another “no matter how the international situation may change” before Kim departed for Pyongyang late Thursday.
Meeting in Beijing a day after Kim joined Xi on Wednesday for a massive military parade through the heart of the Chinese capital to mark 80 years since Japan’s defeat in World War II, the two leaders looked to firm up a relationship that had taken a back seat to Pyongyang’s closer ties with Moscow.
Kim told Xi that “the friendly feelings” between the two countries “can not change no matter how the international situation may change” and that North Korea will “steadily develop” the relationship and “invariably support” China in defending “the sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interests of the state,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
Kim marked “a historic occasion which further strengthened the political trust and strategic cooperation between the ... two countries,” the KCNA report said, adding that it had “showed the invariability and invincibility” of the DPRK-China friendly relations that ... overcame all sorts of trials and challenges.”
DPRK is the acronym for North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Xi, for his part, echoed this, adding that Beijing supports Pyongyang “in its struggle to steadily open up a new phase of the Korean-style socialist cause while taking the road of development suited to its actual conditions,” according to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency.
“China and the DPRK are good neighbors, good friends and good comrades who share a common destiny and stand by each other,” Xi said.
The two leaders also discussed strengthening strategic cooperation and defending common interests in international and regional affairs.
On “the Korean Peninsula issue” — an apparent reference to Pyongyang’s nuclear program and its relations with Seoul — Xi said that China “has always maintained an objective and impartial stance, and stands ready to continue strengthening coordination” with North Korea “so as to strive to maintain peace and stability of the peninsula,” Xinhua reported.
Kim’s visit to China — his first to the country in six years and his inaugural foray onto the multilateral stage — could help inject fresh life into bilateral ties, especially as Pyongyang looks to avoid becoming overly reliant on Moscow.
Kim has ramped up ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent years, inking a mutual defense pact with Moscow and securing a much-needed lifeline in the form of fuel, food and access to advanced military equipment in exchange for sending North Korean troops and weapons for Russia's war against Ukraine.
The move has helped the North Korean regime dilute the effects of a spate of crushing sanctions on Pyongyang over its weapons programs and human rights abuses.
But observers say this has come at the expense of his links to China. Beijing has traditionally been the isolated country’s leading patron, with the neighbors famously touting their relationship as being as close as “lips and teeth.”
In a meeting with Putin on Wednesday, Kim pledged to "fully support" Russia's military as a "fraternal duty," as Putin labeled their countries’ relationship "special.”
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