Upcoming event to mark Kim Jong-un’s first participation in multilateral event since assuming power in 2011
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is expected to rub shoulders with his Chinese and Russian counterparts at Beijing's large-scale military parade next week, as Pyongyang’s state media and Beijing officials announced his participation Thursday.
Marking 80 years since the end of World War II, the parade is scheduled to be held in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3.
If the North Korean leader's visit to Beijing is realized, it would mark Kim’s first participation in a multilateral event since assuming power in 2011.
Kim will visit China “soon” at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping “to participate in celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War,” the Korean Central News Agency reported.
The KCNA had not disclosed any further details of Kim’s planned travel to Beijing as of Thursday afternoon.
Hong Lei, China’s assistant foreign minister, confirmed in a news conference held in Beijing that Kim would be among 26 foreign leaders attending the Sept. 3 military parade, alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin. Beijing announced in June that it would mark the anniversary with a large military parade in September, with senior officials saying Xi would preside over the event.
Though South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has decided not to attend the upcoming military parade, Woo Won-shik, the speaker of the National Assembly, will be present, along with several lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties.
Kang Hoon-sik, Lee's chief of staff, said in a press conference in the afternoon that the presidential office had prior knowledge of Kim's planned participation in the upcoming event in Beijing. Major hurdles for South Korea in regards to its alliance with the US have been cleared after Lee's first face-to-face summit with US President Donald Trump in Washington, but a "prudent" approach towards relations with China and Russia remains a challenge for Seoul, he added.
Thursday’s announcement of Kim’s attendance at the parade comes mere days after Lee held his first summit with Trump in Washington on Monday (US time), after taking office in June. Lee requested that Trump become a “peacemaker” for the Korean Peninsula, while Trump said he would like to meet the North Korean leader this year.
Seoul Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong expressed hope that in regards to Xi’s latest invitation of Kim, the ties between China and North Korea will “develop in a way that contributes to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as well as to peace and stability.”
A Foreign Ministry official, declining to be named, echoed Kang, saying Seoul was aware of Kim's planned visit through its communication channel with Beijing and that the South remains open to dialogue and cooperation with the North.
The Sept. 3 event would represent the first face-to-face encounter between Kim, Xi and Putin at the same time — a symbolic meeting of leaders whose ties have tightened in opposition to Washington and its allies.
Kim has so far embarked on 10 foreign trips since 2011, with the latest one being his meeting with Putin in 2023 at Russia’s newest spaceport, Vostochny Cosmodrome, located near the border with China.
Since taking power in 2011, Kim has made four trips to China — three in 2018 and another in January 2019 — all centered on summit diplomacy rather than ceremonial events. Each visit involved bilateral meetings with Xi, as Kim sought Beijing’s support at critical moments when he was engaging in high-stakes denuclearization talks with Trump, during the incumbent US leader’s first term in office.
Analysts have highlighted the significance of Kim’s upcoming trip.
“This could be seen as a countermeasure against strengthened security cooperation among South Korea, the US and Japan,” Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, said.
“It also appears to aim at undermining the pressure being applied by Washington, Seoul and Tokyo on Pyongyang over denuclearization.”
Meanwhile, Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Center for Korean Peninsula Strategy at the Sejong Institute, highlighted the expanding economic cooperation between Pyongyang and Beijing, as the North scrambles to deal with increasing rice costs.
“Amid the North’s surging rice price, Kim is likely to highlight to Xi the importance of strengthened bilateral cooperation and, naturally, seek economic assistance from Beijing,” Cheong said. “North Korea also requires the cooperation of the Chinese Communist Party leadership in order to draw large numbers of Chinese tourists to the newly opened Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Area this year.”
The expert said that a dozen Chinese economic experts have recently visited Pyongyang, reflecting Beijing’s significant interest in expanding economic cooperation with North Korea.
Cheong voiced concerns that the upcoming Beijing event could serve as an opportunity for Pyongyang, Beijing and Moscow to forge closer ties, which could become a "serious security threat" for Seoul.
North Korea and China are rapidly expanding their nuclear arsenals, accelerating the erosion of the nuclear nonproliferation regime in Northeast Asia. If Seoul remains fixated solely on the goal of North Korean denuclearization under these conditions, South Korea’s security environment will only continue to deteriorate,” he cautioned.
For decades, Beijing has served as North Korea’s principal political and economic backer, offering a vital lifeline to its sanctions-stricken economy. The North remains China’s official ally, bound by a mutual defense pact signed in 1961.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
