North Korea would not exist if it weren’t for China.<\/p>\n
During the Korean War, North Korean forces were on the back foot after the United States launched one of the most stunning and successful counteroffensives in wartime history.<\/p>\n
Defeat looked certain.<\/p>\n
But China came to the rescue, sending waves and waves of troops to overwhelm the South Korean allies.<\/p>\n
It led to an eventual stalemate at the 38th parallel, where modern-day borders remain drawn.<\/p>\n
In the decades after, North Korea relied on China for its own protection, while China enjoyed the buffer the regime created between it and the US-allied South.<\/p>\n
North Korea’s isolation from the world, in some ways, benefited China, and it relied almost entirely on Beijing for trade.<\/p>\n
But in recent years, the relationship between the two has been overshadowed by North Korea’s relationship with Russia.<\/p>\n
The pair have become such prominent allies that thousands of North Korean troops have been sent to fight and die in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un met in Pyongyang last year. (Reuters: Sputnik\/Gavriil Grigorov\/Pool)<\/p>\n
Today, the leaders of China, North Korea and Russia \u2014 Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin \u2014 will send a powerful message to the world as they stand side by side, watching a grand military parade in Tiananmen Square.<\/a><\/p>\n The occasion marks 80 years since the defeat of Japan in World War II.<\/p>\n But it will also project a powerful unified bloc of authoritarian regimes.<\/p>\n And China will be keen to send another message \u2014 that it is the centre of this bloc.<\/p>\n Russia turns to North Korea<\/p>\n Kim rarely leaves North Korea.<\/p>\n This is the first time the North Korean leader has been to China in six years. Two of those years were the pandemic, so no-one was travelling much.<\/p>\n But since then, North Korea has been far more openly engaged with Russia.<\/p>\n In 2023, Kim took his heavily armoured train to Russia for a high-level visit, and a year later, Putin returned the favour, witnessing a highly choreographed military parade in Pyongyang.<\/p>\n Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un met in Pyongyang in June 2024. (Reuters: KCNA\/File)<\/p>\n The two leaders signed a new military alliance.<\/p>\n North Korea has since provided Russia with thousands of troops to assist its invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n In return, Russia is meant to be helping advance North Korean military technology, something it’s long struggled with.<\/p>\n Authoritarian regimes rarely share such sensitive tech.<\/p>\n Russia and China have long refused to give the North Koreans anything too useful, preferring to keep the unruly regime in check.<\/p>\n But Russia’s quagmire in Ukraine left it with little choice.<\/p>\n It embraced its international pariah status and joined forces with North Korea, one of the cruellest and most isolationist regimes.<\/p>\n Institute for National Security Strategy senior research fellow Go Myong-Hyun described the relationship as “transactional.”<\/p>\n “The Russians are in a bind,” Dr Go said.<\/p>\n “They’re not doing too well in Ukraine, so they need all the help they can get.”<\/p>\n He said this pressured Russia to share sensitive technology with North Korea. But that could end if the war in Ukraine stops.<\/p>\n China, North Korea need each other<\/p>\n China has held a more cautious stance.<\/p>\n It’s needed North Korea as a buffer but views Pyongyang’s nuclear program and belligerence as an unwelcome source of regional instability.<\/p>\n China has also tried a more neutral stance with Ukraine, as it cannot afford to abandon its economic relationship with the West.<\/p>\n It also has a healthy trade relationship with South Korea, North Korea’s archenemy.<\/p>\n The lack of big showy announcements between Beijing and Pyongyang recently has led some to speculate the relationship has been sidelined.<\/p>\n Dongkuk University professor Kim Yong Hyun said there may be “some feelings of neglect”.<\/p>\n “There haven’t really been any notable diplomatic or economic events between the two, so from that angle, one could say there is a certain sense of disappointment in the relationship,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n