Kim Jong-un highlights socialist solidarity with Beijing ahead of U.S.-China summit

Kim Jong-un, left, bids goodbye to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during the minister’s visit to Pyongyang on April 10, in this screenshot from a video released by the Korean Central Television. [YONHAP]

 

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to place Pyongyang’s ties with Beijing above all else, citing socialism as the core of relations, the Rodong Sinmun reported Saturday.

 

The remarks came on Friday during Kim’s meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and were seemingly aimed at highlighting North Korea’s traditional ties with China ahead of a summit with the United States expected to take place in Beijing next month.

 


 

“Our party and government will fully support all the internal and external policies of the Chinese party and government for realizing the territorial integrity of the country on the basis of the ‘One China’ principle and building a fair and just multipolar world,” Kim said, according to the Rodong Sinmun.

 

Kim’s emphasis on socialism as the core of bilateral ties appeared to stress anti-U.S. socialist solidarity, alongside support for China’s domestic and foreign policy agenda, including the one-China principle and the push for a global multipolar order. A global multipolar order refers to power distributed among several major states rather than centered on the United States.

 

Kim Jong-un during his meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during the minister’s visit to Pyongyang on April 10, in this photo released by the Korea Central News Agency. [NEWS1]

 

“North Korea is willing to actively join China’s diplomatic course in challenging the U.S.-centered unipolar order,” said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University. “By defining North Korea-China ties not as ordinary state-to-state relations but as an ideological blood alliance, Pyongyang appears intent on securing strategic backing.”

 

Kim also addressed regional and international issues, the newspaper reported.

 

“It is important for North Korea and China to further intensify the visits and contracts at different levels and boost mutual support and cooperation to protect their shared interests,” Kim said. 

 

He added that this was necessary “in view of the present international geopolitical situation and the long-term strategic interests of the two countries.”

 

Wang reportedly referred to the summit between the North Korean and Chinese leaders held around Victory Day in September 2025 and “expressed the Chinese party and government’s unwavering position to develop bilateral friendly relations in line with the wishes and interests of the peoples of the two countries, as well as its views on regional and international issues,” according to the report.

 

Kim Jong-un, right, shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during the minister’s visit to Pyongyang on April 10, in this screenshot from a video released by the Korean Central Television. [YONHAP]

 

Experts said the two sides were likely to have exchanged views not only on the Korean Peninsula but also on major international issues such as the war in Ukraine and tensions in the Middle East ahead of the U.S.-China summit set for May 14 and 15 in Beijing. 

 

“North Korea likely focused on lessons from the war against Iran, while China likely discussed the implications of U.S. military action for the Taiwan issue,” Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said.

 

Still, while the North Korean report said Kim laid out the North’s position and Wang presented China’s views, it did not say the two sides had reached any “agreement,” raising speculation that they may have differed on some issues.

 

Kim Jong-un, left, walks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during the minister’s visit to Pyongyang on April 10, in this screenshot from a video released by the Korean Central Television. [YONHAP]

 

Separately, the Korean Central News Agency reported on Sunday that Ji Kyong-su, North Korea’s ambassador to Belarus, presented his credentials to Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko on Friday. 

 

Ji conveyed Kim’s “warm greetings” to Lukashenko, who expressed deep appreciation, the report said.

 

“Through the summit held in Pyongyang not long ago, a fundamentally new chapter has opened in relations between Belarus and North Korea,” Lukashenko said. “We will develop mutually beneficial cooperation for the mutual interests of the peoples of the two countries.”

 

Ji, previously identified by North Korean state media as a vice minister in charge of external economic affairs, is expected to coordinate economic exchanges and cooperation between North Korea and Belarus.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

BY SHIM SEOK-YONG [[email protected]]