North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will attend an expansive military parade in China next week — the first event to bring him together with a clutch of world leaders since he assumed office in 2011.
Chinese President Xi Jinping extended Kim’s invitation to the event, which marks 80 years since Japan’s surrender in World War II, North Korean state media reported Thursday. Kim will be among 26 foreign leaders who are expected to attend, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We warmly welcome General Secretary Kim Jong Un to China to attend the commemorative events,” Hong Lei, China’s assistant minister of foreign affairs, told a press conference. “Upholding, consolidating and developing the traditional friendship between China and [North Korea] is a firm position of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government.”
Analysts say the event could open outreach opportunities for Kim, whose country sits under heavy international sanctions imposed because of its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs that violate U.N. Security Council resolutions.
“Kim will seek to broaden his global status as a leader, and North Korea, China and Russia may seek to jointly respond to cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the U.S.,” Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told Reuters.
Next week’s event will be the first time Kim, Putin and Xi have gathered at the same event, although Kim has engaged with Xi and Putin individually.
Kim and Putin discussed deepening their countries’ ties in a phone call earlier this month. Messages between Xi and Kim published late last year by Chinese state media hinted at cooler relations between China and North Korea, although Pyongyang in March allowed Chinese journalists to reopen their bureau in the notoriously restrictive country for the first time in five years.
No leaders from major Western countries, including the U.S., are expected to attend next week’s event.
Includes reporting from the Associated Press and Reuters.
