Kim Jong Un will attend a Sept. 3 military parade in China that brings together leaders from China, Russia and North Korea. The event commemorates the end of World War II and China frames it as a victory over Japanese aggression. The trip marks Kim's first known visit to China since 2019 after a period of closer ties with Russia that included a mutual defense treaty and sending North Korean troops to fight in Ukraine. Analysts describe the visit as a mending of relations with China and note potential strategic adjustments regarding Moscow and renewed U.S. engagement.
SEOUL, South Korea When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits China next week for a military parade, he'll be gathering with foreign leaders for the first time, at a rare event with the heads of China, Russia and North Korea all together. The Sept. 3 parade marks the end of World War II after Japan's formal surrender to Allied forces. China's Foreign Ministry says the event commemorates China's victory over "Japanese aggression."
This will also be Kim's first known visit to China since 2019. He and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met five times between 2018 and 2019. But since then, Kim has drawn closer to Russia, signing a mutual defense treaty with the Kremlin and sending thousands of troops to Russia to fight Ukraine. "This is a major mending of the fence, I would say, between China and North Korea," says John Delury, a Seoul-based senior fellow at Asia Society, a nonprofit educational organization.
With President Trump trying to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, Delury says that Kim may be anticipating that he will have less leverage with Moscow, and may want to consider resuming talks with the U.S. Trump said this week at a summit meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung that he hopes to meet again with Kim, as he did three times in 2018 and 2019.
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