Kim Jong Un in Beijing

The cycle of celebrations tied to the SCO summit in Tianjin and the “80th anniversary of victory in the Anti-Japanese War” on September 3 became an important milestone in the shaping of the alliance of the Global South. As a Korea specialist, the author remains within his field of expertise and focuses his analysis on its “Korean dimension.”

General Points

The September 3 ceremony was attended by 26 foreign heads of state, including President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un, and it is of considerable interest to review the participants by region.

-       The CIS was fully represented: in addition to Vladimir Putin, Beijing hosted Alexander Lukashenko (Belarus), Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (Kazakhstan), Shavkat Mirziyoyev (Uzbekistan), Emomali Rahmon (Tajikistan), Sadyr Japarov (Kyrgyzstan), and Serdar Berdimuhamedow (Turkmenistan).

-       It is noteworthy that, despite strained relations, both Ilham Aliyev and Nikol Pashinyan came to Beijing.

-       Also present were Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

-       Southeast Asia was represented almost in full: King Norodom Sihamoni of Cambodia, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing, and the leaders of Laos and Vietnam (it is telling that Thailand’s leader, from a country that was an ally of Japan during the Second World War, was absent).

-       Narendra Modi attended the summit but did not stay for the parade, which the author partially attributes to the glorification of anti-British resistance leaders such as Subhas Chandra Bose. [Modi government glorifies Bose-Ed] The parade itself was attended by Shehbaz Sharif (Pakistan), K.P. Sharma Oli (Nepal), and Mohamed Muizzu (Maldives).

-       From Africa came Emmerson Mnangagwa (Zimbabwe) and Denis Sassou Nguesso (Congo).

-       The Euro-American wing of the Global South was represented by Cuba (Miguel Díaz-Canel), Serbia (Aleksandar Vucic), and Slovakia (Robert Fico).

This list is certainly worth comparing with the roster of leaders who shared the stands with Vladimir Putin at the Moscow parade on May 9, 2025. The level of overlap clearly illustrates which countries oppose the glorification of Nazism and the Western “rules-based order.” It also reflects, in the words of Chinese media, China’s rising power and its shifting relations with the world.

In his parade speech, the Chairman of the PRC declared that the world faces a “choice between peace or war, dialogue or confrontation, mutual benefit or zero-sum games,” stressing that the Chinese people would stand on the right side of history and that their rejuvenation “cannot be stopped.” Xi Jinping stated that the Chinese people would follow the path of peaceful development and build a community of shared future with the rest of the world, even as China showcased its military might: the largest parade in Chinese history featured 45 infantry and mechanized formations representing the branches and arms of the People’s Liberation Army, along with stealth fighters, new nuclear missiles, hypersonic anti-ship weapons, and unmanned submarines.

Earlier, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit held on Sunday and Monday in Tianjin, Xi Jinping had called for unity against “hegemonism and power politics.”

Kim Jong Un’s Debut on the Multilateral Diplomatic Stage

News that the Chairman of State Affairs of the DPRK would visit China to participate in the commemorative events was released almost simultaneously by KCNA and Xinhua on August 28.

The publication Guangcha noted that “in the difficult years of the war, the peoples of China and the DPRK supported each other and jointly resisted Japanese aggression, making an important contribution to victory in the World Anti-Fascist War and the just cause of humanity. The position of the Party and Government of China is to preserve, strengthen, and develop China–North Korea relations. China is prepared to continue working hand in hand with the DPRK to deepen exchanges and cooperation and advance socialist construction.” South Korean media added that while Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of the current leader and founder of North Korea, had taken part in many multilateral meetings, neither Kim Jong Un nor his father and predecessor Kim Jong Il had ever travelled abroad for such events attended by a large number of heads of state and government.

On September 1, the North Korean leader’s special train departed for China. He was accompanied by Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, his sister Kim Yo Jong, and his “beloved daughter,” sparking another wave of speculation that the 13-year-old girl is indeed his designated successor.

Before the parade, the North Korean leader managed to speak with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and invited him to “visit Pyongyang at a convenient time.” Vladimir Putin also conversed with Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un on the way to the stands. Together, they greeted Chinese veterans who had taken part in the fighting during the Second World War.

At the parade, Kim Jong Un was seated to Xi Jinping’s left (with Xi occasionally turning toward him to exchange words), while Vladimir Putin sat to his right. South Korean media described this as a “deliberate geopolitical signal that the North Korea–China–Russia axis has returned, stronger and more visible than ever before,” and as “a warning shot foretelling that Northeast Asia will become more polarized, more competitive, and far less predictable.” For the first time in 66 years, the leaders of North Korea, China, and Russia stood shoulder to shoulder. The last such moment occurred in 1959, when Kim Il Sung stood alongside Mao Zedong and Nikita Khrushchev at a military parade in Beijing.

After the parade, in the afternoon of September 3, Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin held full-fledged talks, though the latest DPRK–Russia summit is a subject for a separate analysis.

That evening, a reception and concert were held in the Great Hall of the People, attended by Kim as well. South Korean media noted that Kim was seen entering the banquet hall in the first row, to Xi Jinping’s left, just as he had stood side by side with Xi and Putin during the parade.

The Meeting of the Two Leaders

Since coming to power at the end of 2011, Kim Jong Un had visited China four times - three in 2018 and once in 2019 - and on each of those occasions he met with Xi Jinping. The same held true this time.

On the afternoon of September 4, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un held talks lasting about an hour. Kim Jong Un thanked the Party, the government, and the people of China for the “sincere, special hospitality extended to the DPRK delegation,” stressing that the celebrations had demonstrated China’s unshakable resolve to safeguard global peace and had vividly underscored its significant international status and influence. In response, Xi Jinping emphasized that Comrade Kim Jong Un’s participation in the commemorative events had “demonstrated the DPRK’s unwavering will to firmly defend the achievements of victory in the Second World War and served as an important step in furthering the friendship and cooperation between the two parties and the two countries.” China and the DPRK, he continued, are “good neighbors, good friends, and good comrades who share a common destiny and assist one another” - the entire set of traditional formulations was repeated at this meeting as well.

The Chinese leader further pointed out that “China and the DPRK must strengthen strategic coordination on international and regional issues in order to safeguard our shared interests.” Xi Jinping added that on the Korean Peninsula issue, Beijing “consistently adheres to an objective and impartial stance” and “will maintain close communication with the DPRK at all levels while advancing practical cooperation in every field.”

Xi clarified that this position of Beijing would remain unchanged regardless of shifts in the international environment. According to him, China will support the DPRK’s development in line with its national characteristics, as well as Pyongyang’s efforts to consolidate socialism.

In reply, Kim Jong Un noted that despite turbulence in the international situation, the bonds of friendship between the DPRK and China cannot change. He assured that continuously deepening and developing Korea–China relations is the unshakable will of both the WPK and the DPRK.

Beyond formal affirmations, the two sides “candidly exchanged views on strengthening high-level contacts and strategic understanding between the DPRK and China, and briefed each other on the independent political positions of their respective parties and governments in the sphere of foreign affairs. They also stressed the need to enhance strategic cooperation and defend common interests on international and regional issues.”

That evening, Xi Jinping hosted a banquet for Kim Jong Un, after which the North Korean leader departed Beijing on his special train.

Reaction of the “International Community”

The sight of the three leaders together on the reviewing stand could not fail to draw attention -  it was too striking a visual symbol, underscored by the PRC Foreign Ministry’s statements welcoming the participation of the Russian and North Korean leaders in the upcoming celebrations. Moreover, this was the first-ever meeting of the leaders of Russia, China, and the DPRK.

Let us begin with the President of the United States, who posted about the event on his Truth Social account. He congratulated China on the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and also urged that American assistance in that conflict not be forgotten. “Many Americans gave their lives in the struggle for China’s victory and glory… I hope they are rightly honoured and remembered for their courage and self-sacrifice! May President Xi Jinping and the wonderful people of China celebrate this great and lasting day.”

In addition, Trump asked Chairman Xi Jinping: “Please convey my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un as you conspire against the United States of America.”

Vladimir Putin commented on Trump’s remark that he and Xi were “plotting against the US” in China as follows: “The President of the United States is not devoid of humour. I had good relations with him, we called each other by our first names. But over these four days, throughout the most diverse formats of talks, no one voiced negative judgments about the current American administration. All the more so since all my interlocutors expressed support for our meeting in Anchorage.”

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas declared that the meeting of the Russian, Chinese, and North Korean heads of state was a “direct challenge” to the international order. Other experts even proclaimed the parade to mark the start of a “new Cold War.”

Yet, as Russian military analyst Vladimir Khrustalev observed, if the gathering of three heads of state - two of whom are labelled as “some sort of pariahs” - constitutes a challenge to your world order, then that is extremely bad news for your world order. The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s official spokesman Guo Jiakun expressed essentially the same sentiment, albeit in more diplomatic language: “The comments of the relevant EU representative are filled with ideological prejudice and are not based on even elementary historical knowledge. They openly stoke confrontation and antagonism.” The diplomat stressed that Kallas’s words show disrespect for the history of the Second World War and harm the EU’s own interests. “This is extremely mistaken and irresponsible.”

Ellen Kim, Director of Academic Affairs at the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI), stated that such a “public demonstration of trilateral solidarity between China, Russia, and North Korea is very bad news for the US at a time when the Trump administration’s ‘America First’ policy and tariff measures have weakened its ties with allies and partners,” adding that it “signals a growing dynamic of a new Cold War in the region.”

The author, however, emphasizes that despite the hysteria of certain politicians and experts, there is as yet no Moscow–Beijing–Pyongyang triangle equivalent to the Washington–Tokyo–Seoul triangle. The parties engaged with one another bilaterally, but there was no trilateral meeting, let alone any joint declaration.

As South Korean media noted, “the sight of the three leaders standing shoulder to shoulder sent a signal to the world of growing solidarity among North Korea, China, and Russia in defiance of the US-led unipolar order.”

It is fitting to conclude with a quotation showing that in Beijing’s official rhetoric there has been no change regarding the North, and that talk of a sharp cooling in relations is unfounded.

In the difficult years of the war, the Chinese and North Korean peoples supported each other and jointly resisted Japanese aggression, making an important contribution to victory in the World Anti-Fascist War. China is ready to continue working hand in hand with the DPRK, cooperating closely to promote regional peace and stability and to uphold international justice, opening a new chapter in the history of traditional friendship between China and the DPRK.

KCNA described the results of the visit in similar language, calling it “a historic moment that further strengthened political trust and strategic cooperation between the two parties and the two countries, and demonstrated the constancy and invincibility of DPRK–China relations of friendship, forged in the joint struggle for the victory of socialism and having withstood every test and challenge.”

Konstantin Asmolov, PhD in History, leading research fellow at the Centre for Korean Studies of the Institute of China and Modern Asia at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Courtesy

https://journal-neo.su/2025/09/09/the-korean-dimension-of-events-in-china-september-2025-part-one-kim-jong-un-in-beijing/