{"id":193374,"date":"2025-09-02T05:57:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T05:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/193374\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T05:57:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T05:57:09","slug":"north-koreas-kim-travels-to-beijing-military-parade-with-russias-putin-and-chinas-xi-jinping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/193374\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea’s Kim travels to Beijing military parade with Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi Jinping"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) \u2014 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un<\/a> is heading to Beijing by train on Tuesday to attend a military parade with his Chinese and Russian counterparts, North Korea\u2019s state media reported. The event could potentially demonstrate three-way unity<\/a> against the United States.<\/p>\n

Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/a> are among the 26 world leaders<\/a> who\u2019ll join Chinese President Xi Jinping<\/a> to watch Wednesday\u2019s massive military parade in Beijing that commemorates the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and China\u2019s fight against Japan\u2019s wartime aggressions.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s set to be Kim\u2019s first time attending a major multilateral event during his 14-year rule<\/a>, and the first time Kim, Xi and Putin, all key challengers of the U.S., have gathered at the same venue. None of the three countries have confirmed a private trilateral leaders\u2019 meeting.<\/p>\n

South Korean intelligence predicts Kim could be treated on par with Putin<\/p>\n

The North\u2019s official Korean Central News Agency reported early Tuesday that Kim left Pyongyang for Beijing by his special train on Monday to participate in the celebrations. KCNA, citing Foreign Ministry official Kim Chon Il, said that Kim Jong Un was traveling with top officials including Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui. <\/p>\n

In a closed-door briefing to lawmakers, South Korea\u2019s National Intelligence Service said Kim\u2019s train entered China early Tuesday and was expected to reach Beijing later in the afternoon. The intelligence service said Kim will likely receive special protocol and security measures on par with those given to Putin, according to Lee Seong Kweun, a lawmaker who attended the meeting.<\/p>\n

The spy agency said Kim may stand alongside Xi and Putin on the rostrum at Tiananmen Square during Wednesday\u2019s parade, and anticipated that he will hold bilateral meetings with the Chinese and Russian leaders and interact with other heads of state at a reception and cultural performance as he seeks to further break out of isolation and expand his diplomatic footing, Lee said.<\/p>\n

Kim\u2019s travel marks his first visit to China since 2019 and the fifth visit in total since he inherited power upon his father\u2019s death in late 2011. <\/p>\n

Putin arrived in China on Sunday to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization<\/a>, a regional summit, as well as the Beijing parade. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told Russia\u2019s TASS news agency on Sunday that a meeting between Putin and Kim on the sidelines was \u201cunder consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n

North Korea observers are paying keen attention to Kim possibly meeting Xi bilaterally as well and holding even a trilateral meeting with Xi and Putin. The three leaders have met bilaterally previously but have yet to hold a trilateral meeting. <\/p>\n

Kim seeks to expand his diplomatic footing <\/p>\n

North Korea\u2019s foreign policy priority has been Russia in recent years as it has been supplying troops and ammunition to support Russia\u2019s war<\/a> against Ukraine in exchange for economic and military assistance. <\/p>\n

According to South Korean assessments, North Korea has sent around 15,000 troops to Russia since last fall. In its latest briefing to lawmakers, the South Korean spy agency said it believes roughly 2,000 of them have so far died in combat, Lee said. Kim has also agreed to additionally send thousands of military construction workers and deminers<\/a> to Russia\u2019s Kursk region, and the agency assesses that the first 1,000 are already in Russia, Lee said. <\/p>\n

North Korea\u2019s relations with China have reportedly turned sour in recent years, but experts say Kim likely hopes to restore ties as China is North Korea\u2019s biggest trading partner and aid benefactor and he would want to brace for the end of the Russia-Ukraine war. <\/p>\n

Since aligning with Russia, North Korea has become more vocal in international affairs beyond the Korean Peninsula, issuing diplomatic statements on conflicts in the Middle East and in the Taiwan Strait, while portraying itself as a part of a united front against Washington. Some experts say Kim\u2019s presence at the multilateral event in Beijing is part of efforts to develop partnerships with other nations close to China and Russia.<\/p>\n

Kim\u2019s trip comes as President Donald Trump and new liberal South Korean President Lee Jae Myung<\/a> have repeatedly expressed their hopes to restart talks with North Korea. North Korea has been shunning talks with the U.S. and South Korea and pushing to expand its nuclear and missile arsenals since Kim\u2019s earlier round of diplomacy with Trump<\/a> collapsed in 2019. <\/p>\n

Before departing for China on Monday, Kim visited a North Korean missile research institute to review progress on developing a new engine for a \u201cnext-generation\u201d intercontinental ballistic missile, KCNA reported. The North in recent years has tested various versions of ICBMs capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, and analysts say the next-generation ICBM likely refers to a long-range weapon with multiple nuclear warheads that can defeat U.S. missile defense systems. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEOUL, South Korea (AP) \u2014 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is heading to Beijing by train on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":193375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[13214,9710,74,13212,69,57,107931,24529,30359,107930,50,24240,3659,80,3657,274,103,107,11762,77429],"class_list":{"0":"post-193374","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-asia-pacific","9":"tag-beijing","10":"tag-china","11":"tag-china-government","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-kim-chon-il","15":"tag-kim-jong-un","16":"tag-lee-jae-myung","17":"tag-lee-seong-kweun","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-north-korea","20":"tag-north-korea-government","21":"tag-politics","22":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","23":"tag-vladimir-putin","24":"tag-world","25":"tag-world-news","26":"tag-xi-jinping","27":"tag-yuri-ushakov"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115133169257792992","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}