South Korean official media "Rodong Sinmun" reported on October 25 that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited Dandong City, Liaoning Province, China, located on the border between North Korea and China, via the North Korea-China Yalu River Bridge (China-North Korea Yalu River Boundary Highway Bridge, also known as the New Yalu River Bridge), which was opened on the 15th of this month, and returned to North Korea on the same day.
The report emphasized that this visit coincides with the 76th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army’s participation in the Korean War. During the visit, Kim Jong-un met with Wang Huning, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, who ranks fourth in the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, and visited the "Memorial Hall to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea" and a bus factory in Dandong City. However, regarding the meeting between Kim Jong-un and Wang Huning, which was also attended by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the reports of Rodong Sinmun and Chinese state media mainly focused on the friendly gestures and willingness to expand cooperation between the two parties, without disclosing specific cooperation plans or agreements.
This is Kim Jong-un's second visit to China about 13 months after his visit to Beijing in September last year; his last visit to China was about six years and eight months after his trip in January 2019. This is also Kim Jong-un's sixth visit to China since he came to power, and the first time he has returned to North Korea without meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Before the news of Kim Jong-un's visit to Dandong was confirmed, Japanese media "Kyodo News" reported at noon on the 24th that strict traffic controls were implemented in some local areas, and quoted diplomatic sources to speculate that the measures may be related to the visit of high-level North Korean officials. On the same day, the Japanese media "Asahi Shimbun" also quoted reports from Dandong residents that local roads were blocked, traffic jams occurred in many places, and residents could not even get out of their buildings.
Kim Jong-un has only recently become the subject of unconfirmed death rumors, and this public trip has also attracted attention. On the other hand, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to be held in Shenzhen, China, from November 18 to 19, has previously triggered speculation that Kim Jong-un may meet with US President Trump. There are different interpretations on whether the trip to Dandong focuses on bilateral economic and trade, or whether it involves broader diplomatic arrangements.
Former South Korean Deputy Minister of Unification Kim Hyung-seok told DW, "After North Korea advances its nuclear weapons development, the results of its economic development path are still limited. Kim Jong-un may hope to use this visit to win China's economic cooperation."
He believes that Kim Jong-un may also be interested in eliminating the negative impact caused by recent death rumors at home and abroad, so he temporarily arranged this visit in the name of on-site inspection of the new Yalu River Bridge that was delayed for 12 years before it was opened to traffic after completion.
The New Yalu River Bridge connects Dandong, China and Sinuiju in northwestern North Korea. It was completed in 2014. However, supporting facilities such as roads and customs on the North Korean side were not in place in time, resulting in repeated delays in opening to traffic. It was not officially opened until October 15 this year.
Han Ki-beom, former deputy director of South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS), told DW, "This visit can be seen as Pyongyang's attempt to turn political connections into economic benefits. However, it remains to be seen how much the actual freight volume between the two countries can increase after the bridge is opened to traffic."
Ahn Chan-il, a former North Korean soldier and current head of the World Center for North Korea Studies in Seoul, told DW that he saw a signal of openness from the visit. He believes that after the new Yalu River Bridge was opened to traffic, Kim Jong-un personally set foot on Chinese soil, which reflected his willingness to "base himself on his own land and look at the world."
Ahn continued to explain, “This echoes the appointment of Park Tae-sung, the so-called ‘open’ cabinet prime minister, and may be North Korea’s first step towards introducing Chinese-style market socialism.”
Park Tae-sung will be appointed Prime Minister of North Korea in December 2024 and will be promoted to the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Workers' Party Central Committee. In 2018, he led a delegation composed of heads of North Korean provincial and municipal party committees to visit China and was received by Xi Jinping. According to Xinhua News Agency's report at the time, Park Tae-sung said that the visit was intended to learn from China's experience in economic construction and reform and opening up, and to serve North Korea's line of concentrating its efforts on economic development.
However, it is still Ahn Chan-il's analysis to regard the opening of the bridge and this visit as North Korea's shift to the Chinese economic model. The public visit did not include any policy announcements.
Jung Joon-hee, a former spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry, told Deutsche Welle that the trip to Dandong also has the significance of sending a signal to Beijing and Moscow. Zheng described, "This visit can be interpreted in different ways. One of them is to present the follow-up measures for strategic cooperation after Xi Jinping's visit to North Korea in June this year in concrete actions. On the surface, the new Yalu River Bridge was opened to traffic, but Kim Jong-un's personal visit made the progress of cooperation between the two countries visible."
Chung Jun-hee also believes that Pyongyang may use this to show Russia that it has other cooperation options besides negotiating with Moscow. In other words, strengthening relations with China may also be a silent message asking Russia to further expand cooperation with North Korea.
After the Ukraine-Russia War, North Korea provided ammunition and dispatched soldiers to Russia to support Russia's war against Ukraine. The military cooperation between the two sides was also accompanied by the expansion of economic and transportation ties.
On September 7 this year, the "Tumen River Highway Bridge", also known as the "Yakov Novichenko Bridge", connecting Rason in northeastern North Korea and Hassan in the Russian Far East was officially opened to traffic, becoming the first cross-border highway channel between the two countries, supplementing the existing railway transportation. With the opening of this bridge and the new Yalu River Bridge, North Korea, which has always been known for its isolation, has more channels for personnel exchanges and cargo transportation with Russia and China after the COVID-19 epidemic.
