The leaders of China and North Korea held a meeting in Pyongyang for the first time in seven years. What you need to know

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with the country's leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang during his first state visit to the DPRK in seven years. The press has already drawn attention to the fact that Xi Jinping hosted the leaders of the United States and Russia, and the personal two-day visit should show the priority of relations between China and the DPRK over other international contacts. How relations between the DPRK and China developed, what is the importance of the leaders' meeting and what it means for Russia — in the Izvestia article.

Restoring relations between the DPRK and China

• Although diplomatic ties between the two countries have been established since 1949, the DPRK and China have had to overcome several crises in their relations. The last of these occurred in 2006, when the DPRK conducted nuclear weapons tests. At that time, Pyongyang had already refused to participate in the six-party nuclear talks, where China, the United States, Russia, South Korea and Japan urged the DPRK to abandon the development of nuclear weapons. China then called the test explosions a blatant violation of international agreements, spoke out "strongly against" the DPRK's actions and supported UN sanctions against Pyongyang.

• An attempt to restore relations was made only in 2018, when Xi Jinping held a meeting with Kim Jong-un in China, and in 2019, the Chinese leader visited the DPRK for the first time in 14 years. For Beijing, strengthening relations with Pyongyang became a lever of pressure on the United States, which at that time was trying to influence China with the help of duties. But diplomatic visits stopped with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic: Beijing closed its borders until 2023, and Pyongyang began to move closer and closer to Moscow during this period. It was only in 2025 that the trade turnover between China and the DPRK was able to approach the level that existed before the pandemic, and the countries resumed railway communication between each other.

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Why is the visit so important?

• This is the first visit by a Chinese leader to Pyongyang since the pandemic. Earlier this year, Xi Jinping held meetings with US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, but all of them took place in China. The fact that the Chinese president is personally visiting another country indicates the importance of relations between states and the fact that the DPRK is not completely isolated, despite the efforts of the West.

• The DPRK is an important strategic ally of China — it is the only country with which China has concluded an agreement on friendship and mutual assistance, including mutual defense. Xi Jinping's visit is formally timed to coincide with the 65th anniversary of this treaty. At the same time, in 2024, the DPRK expanded military cooperation by concluding a defense pact with Russia. Concerned about this, the United States hoped that China would not allow the strengthening of military relations between the DPRK and Russia, but Beijing did not interfere.

• Xi Jinping's visit demonstrates that China continues and strengthens cooperation with the DPRK, despite the US attempt to drive a wedge between the allies. After meeting with Xi Jinping in China, US President Donald Trump claimed that the parties had agreed on the issue of North Korea's denuclearization. At the same time, China itself did not confirm the information disseminated by the United States that Beijing supports Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament, and the DPRK confidently stated that such a topic was not discussed at all at the meeting of the leaders of the United States and China.

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The aggressive rhetoric of the United States and Japan is forcing China to think about strengthening its defense. North Korea is a buffer state for China, as it separates it from South Korea, an ally of the United States. In addition, cooperation with nuclear-armed Russia and North Korea sends a clear signal to the West about the risks in the event of an attack. In the West, relations between the allies have been called an "axis of upheaval," including Iran. According to the Daily Mail's assessment made in 2025, in the case of an alliance between Russia, North Korea and China, their combined armed forces could surpass those of NATO. At the same time, China is trying to balance its foreign policy so as not to provoke US aggression.

Significance for Russia

• Some analysts are voicing a version according to which Beijing is "jealous" of the DPRK towards Russia. Moscow and Pyongyang have indeed significantly strengthened their partnership over the past three years, especially in the field of military-technical and economic cooperation. For the DPRK, relations with Russia have allowed it to break out of China's monopoly and diversify trade, although China remains the leading supplier to the DPRK. Xi Jinping's personal visit shows that Beijing does not want to let Pyongyang out of its sphere of influence.

• For Russia, maintaining a balance in relations between the DPRK and China may be beneficial, since Beijing adheres to a strategy of "soft containment" of Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. The DPRK does not hide its intentions to expand its nuclear potential, besides, the right to use nuclear weapons preemptively, enshrined in the state's doctrine in 2022, poses an additional risk, which could provoke an arms race in the region.

• Destabilization in Asia does not meet the interests of China and Russia, so such high-level contacts help to "check the clock" and develop a common line, taking into account the interests of each participant in the dialogue. On the day of the meeting between the leaders of China and the DPRK, Chinese officials also paid a diplomatic visit to South Korea, with which the DPRK maintains tense relations. According to Beijing, the priority for the peninsula should be to de-escalate tensions and avoid further confrontation.