Xi Jinping is feted in Pyongyang as Kim Jong-un swivels to Moscow

June 9, 2026 — 3:29pm

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Beijing: On a dais in Pyongyang’s public square beneath giant posters of their airbrushed faces, Xi Jinping was feted with a colourful spectacle of Soviet-era agitprop as he met with Kim Jong-un to reaffirm their countries’ deep ties, “forged in blood” during the Korean War.

The two-day summit is the Chinese leader’s first visit to North Korea in seven years, during which time Kim has powered ahead with his nuclear weapons program and grown emboldened by shifting his country’s centre of gravity toward Moscow.

Xi’s visit has drawn the attention of analysts because it is his first overseas trip this year and comes as he reduces his travel and increasingly delegates international summits to lower-level officials.

His decision to make the journey north – officially to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the China-North Korea mutual defence treaty – is being widely interpreted as Beijing’s bid to remind its neighbour and the world that it remains Pyongyang’s biggest economic lifeline and hedge against US influence in East Asia.

Kim, meanwhile, will be looking for Beijing’s assurance that it has accepted North Korea as a nuclear state, and will not seek denuclearisation goals in talks with other foreign powers.

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© Brisbane Times