North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un will attend a military parade in Beijing next week, China’s foreign ministry has said – in what is believed to be his first international level meeting of leaders.
The so-called “Victory Day” parade will mark the 80th anniversary of China’s war against Japan and the end of World War Two.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will also be among the 26 heads of state expected to attend the event and comes days after US leader Donald Trump said he wanted to meet Kim.
China is expected to display its latest weaponry including hundreds of aircraft, tanks and anti-drone systems – the first time its military’s new force structure is being fully showcased in a parade.
The highly choreographed parade will see tens of thousands of military personnel march in formation through Tiananmen Square, including troops from 45 of the so-called echelons of China’s military as well as war veterans.
The 70-minute parade, which will be surveyed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, is expected to be closely watched by analysts and western powers.
In a press conference given by China’s foreign ministry on Thursday, Beijing – one of Pyongyang’s closest allies – praised its neighbour for their decades-long “traditional friendship” and said the two countries will continue to collaborate on “regional peace and stability”.
Kim’s attendance is an upgrade from China’s last Victory Day parade, which happened in 2015 – during which Pyongyang sent one of its top officials, Choe Ryong-hae.
Kim attending the parade in the centre of Beijing standing alongside Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi will be quite the photo op.
But it will also be a key diplomatic win for Xi.
US President Donald Trump is trying to make a deal with Putin to end the war in Ukraine. He has also in the last week announced he wants to meet Kim again.
The Chinese leader is signalling here that he holds the geopolitical cards in this game. He has influence – although it is limited – on both leaders.
The timing is also key. The White House has suggested that President Trump could be in the region at the end of October and is open to meeting Xi.
The Chinese leader would go into any summit with the US president fully briefed by Kim and Putin and will know he is not being left out of the loop.
It’s been six years since Kim visited Beijing – he last attended the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2019.
The reclusive North Korean leader also visited Beijing three times in 2018, marking a particularly busy year for international trips as he rarely travels abroad.
Most Western leaders are not expected to attend the parade, in part due to their differences with Russian leader Putin over the Ukraine war.
Japan had earlier also reportedly urged foreign leaders not the attend the parade, saying it had “anti-Japanese overtones”.
But there is now the question of whether South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung will attend the parade, thereby providing the first opportunity for the leaders of North and South Korea to meet since their relations broke down in 2019.
Lee has been invited, but has not accepted the invitation. The government was planning to send a lower-ranking politician in his place.
Lee, who was elected in June, has repeatedly said he would like to speak to Kim Jong Un and establish peaceful relations with North Korea. On Monday, when Lee met President Trump in the Oval Office, he asked Trump to act as a peacemaker on the Korean peninsula. Lee has also stated he wants to strengthen ties with Beijing.
But the North has repeatedly criticised Lee, rejecting all his attempts to engage. Just yesterday its state news agency, KCNA, labelled Lee “a confrontational maniac”.
If Lee were to attend the parade, it would get him physically close to Kim, but it is a risky move. If Kim publicly ignores or rebuffs the South Korean leader, or even another of its politicians, it would be a major embarrassment.
The optics of Lee appearing next to the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Iran is also something South Korea may want to avoid. South Korea’s Presidential office has not commented today on whether he will attend.
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