The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, visited the Chinese border city of Dandong this Saturday, where he paid tribute to the Chinese soldiers who fought in the Korean War (1950-1953), one of the great conflicts of the Cold War, and toured a car factory, as reported by the Chinese agency Xinhua. His host was Wang Huning, one of the highest-ranking leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, who conveyed greetings from President Xi Jinping and advocated expanding economic exchanges between both countries. The unexpected move combines the demand for a historic alliance with the boost to a relationship that Beijing and Pyongyang have strengthened again in the last year, after Kim strengthened his ties with Russia.
Wang Huning occupies the fourth position in the Communist Party hierarchy and belongs to the Standing Committee of the Politburo, the power nucleus headed by Xi. In addition, he chairs the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body. But his influence transcends that position: he is one of the main ideological architects of the Chinese political system, with a long history serving successive leaders. In July he already visited North Korea and met with Kim.
That he was the one who received the North Korean president underlines the political dimension of the meeting and the weight of the ties between the two ruling parties. This is reflected in the message spread by Xinhua: Wang has invoked the shared socialist cause, political trust and the need to strengthen strategic coordination. The official Chinese account does not mention the Prime Minister, Li Qiang, whom the first South Korean information had indicated as Kim's interlocutor. Xinhua does record the participation in the activities of the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi.
The day began with a wreath laying at the monument to the Chinese soldiers who died in the Korean War, followed by a visit to the museum dedicated to that intervention. China commemorates this Sunday the 76th anniversary of its troops entering combat in support of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (the official name of North Korea), which was fighting against South Korean forces and the UN-mandated coalition led by the United States. The confrontation began when the North Korean army invaded the Republic of Korea. According to Xinhua, Kim explained that he expressly traveled to Dandong to pay tribute to those who supported his country with their lives and has thanked Beijing for the support that Beijing has since given to the North Korean regime, founded by his grandfather, Kim Il-sung.
The memory of the conflict continues to occupy a central place in the relationship. Both countries remember that sacrifice as the foundation of a bond of camaraderie and mutual trust that has stood the test of time, although it has not been free of disagreements. North Korea is the only nation with which China has a mutual defense treaty, signed in 1961, under the leadership of the founder of the People's Republic, Mao Zedong. During his visit to Pyongyang in June, Xi reaffirmed to Kim a friendship between the Chinese and North Koreans “forged in blood.”
The tribute to the fallen has given way to an agenda with economic content. Wang has defended taking advantage of the opening of the new bridge over the Yalu River, inaugurated nine days ago, to expand people-to-people contacts and commercial cooperation. In the afternoon, he accompanied Kim to a car factory, where they toured the production workshops. Details about the company have not been revealed or whether industrial agreements have been signed. At the end of the visit, Wang said goodbye to Kim at the new border structure.
Inaugurated on October 15, the three-kilometer-long, four-lane infrastructure connects Dandong with the North Korean city of Sinuiju. Its construction was completed in 2014, but pending works on the North Korean side delayed its commissioning. Its opening now makes it possible to alleviate the limitations of the transport of goods through one of the main exchange points between the two countries. That the North Korean president used this route shortly after it began operations reinforces its value as a symbol of the recovery of bilateral exchanges.
And, for years, the unused bridge served as testimony to the difficulties that the bilateral relationship was going through. Ties were strained in 2017, after the nuclear test carried out by Pyongyang and to which Beijing responded by supporting the tightening of sanctions in the UN Security Council. The subsequent closure of borders due to the Covid-19 pandemic lengthened the re-engagement process even further.
The boost to the relationship with Beijing comes as Pyongyang consolidates its military cooperation with Moscow, which has intensified since the Ukraine war. In 2024, Kim and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, signed a strategic partnership treaty that includes mutual assistance in the event of aggression. The Kremlin offers the North Korean regime an additional source of support and expands its room for maneuver in the face of its traditional dependence on China, its main economic and diplomatic support. Kim's visit to Dandong, however, prolongs a sequence of contacts with the Chinese authorities, which can be interpreted as meaning that the strengthening of the axis between Moscow and Pyongyang does not displace Beijing from the North Korean agenda.
The presence of the North Korean leader in neighboring territory occurs less than a month before the summit of leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), in which Xi, Putin and the president of the United States, Donald Trump, will meet in the Chinese city of Shenzhen. In recent weeks, both the Russian and American leaders have shown themselves open to holding a trilateral meeting there with Xi to address the war in Ukraine. But Trump's trip to Asia has also fueled speculation about a possible meeting with Kim, whom he met three times during his first term.
The prospects for that appointment, however, seem to be receding. The British agency Reuters reported on Friday, citing several sources familiar with the situation, that both Washington and Seoul consider a meeting this year increasingly less likely. According to these sources, Pyongyang has not responded to the proposal. Trump is the only US president to meet with a North Korean leader.
