North Korean leader Kim Jong will attend a vast military parade in China next week – the first event to bring it together with a cover of world leaders since he took office in 2011.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has extended Kim’s invitation to the event, which has marked 80 years since Japan’s surrender during the Second World War, the North Korean state media reported on Thursday. Kim will be among the 26 foreign leaders who are expected to attend, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We warmly welcome Secretary General Kim Jong one in China to attend commemorative events,” said Hong Lei, Deputy Minister for Chinese Foreign Affairs, to a press conference. “Resume, consolidate and develop traditional friendship between China and [North Korea] is a firm position of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government. »»
Analysts claim that the event could open awareness opportunities for Kim, the country of which is under heavy international sanctions imposed because of its nuclear weapons and its ballistic missile programs which violate the resolutions of the UN Security Council.
“Kim will seek to expand its world status as the leader, and North Korea, China and Russia could seek to respond jointly to cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the United States,” Yang Moo-Jin, president of the North Korean Studies University in Seoul told Reuters.
The event next week will be the first time that Kim, Putin and Xi come together at the same event, although Kim has engaged with Xi and Putin individually.
Kim and Putin discussed the deepening of their country’s ties during a telephone call earlier this month. The messages between XI and Kim published at the end of last year by the Chinese state media referred to the cooler relations between China and North Korea, although Pyongyang allowed Chinese journalists in March to reopen their office in the notoriously restrictive country for the first time in five years.
No leader of the main Western countries, including the United States, is expected to attend the event next week.
Includes the reports of the Associated Press and Reuters.