After investing significant diplomatic capital in relations with Russia in recent years, North Korea now appears to be turning to China. Leader Kim Jong-un said his country places “great value” on improving relations with Beijing.
These changes came during two days of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to visit North Korea last week, where he met with Kim and North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui.
Notably, Wang’s visit was the first to North Korea since 2019. In the intervening years of the Covid-19 pandemic, the closure of North Korea’s border and rapidly growing ties with Russia caused relations with Beijing to take a back seat.
Meaningful exchanges remained limited until last September, when Kim traveled to Beijing for a military parade with President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Even that event, however, seemed more about image management than real rapprochement: Kim was interested in appearing to stand between the leaders of two superpowers, not necessarily in mending a neglected relationship.
Much has changed since then, however. According to North Korean state media, Kim told Wang that Pyongyang places “high priority” on developing its traditional relationship with China. Kim also reiterated his commitment to high-level strategic communication and voiced support for the one-China principle and Beijing’s vision of a multilateral world.
Wang emphasized that China is ready to strengthen cooperation in various areas and encourage regional peace and development. According to reports by the Korean Central News Agency, he described bilateral relations as entering a “new phase”, pointing to last year’s Xi-Kim summit as a baseline.
