Amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, a Chinese delegation will visit Pyongyang

According to state media on Thursday, a senior delegation of Chinese government representatives will go to North Korea this week to take part in festivities for a significant national festival. On September 9, Pyongyang will commemorate the nation’s foundation day, which occurred 75 years ago. The nuclear-armed nation has previously said it would honor the occasion with a “militia parade.”

A team led by China’s deputy premier Liu Guozhong “will visit the DPRK to participate in the celebrations of the country’s 75th birthday,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency, which used the North’s abbreviations.

The statement continued, “on the invitation” of the party and government of North Korea. Beijing is North Korea’s most significant economic supporter and friend; their connection was created in the blood of the 1950s Korean War.

Since early 2020, when North Korea closed its borders in reaction to the Covid-19 epidemic, the country has been largely cut off from the outside world. However, there are more and more indications Pyongyang may be loosening up on border restrictions after three years of isolation brought on by Covid.

Last month, the first foreign commercial flight from North Korea in three years touched down in Beijing. In August, Pyongyang also permitted a team of athletes to go to Kazakhstan to compete in taekwondo.

Less than two months have passed since high-ranking Chinese and Russian delegations visited Pyongyang. The first foreign dignitaries to visit the nation in years, they went to a military parade in the capital of North Korea last month.

Li Hongzhong, a member of the Politburo, served as the delegation’s leader. Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, stood between Li and Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, who was also in attendance. Shoigu was personally shown the newest and most cutting-edge weapons by Kim as he led him around a sizable defense exhibition in Pyongyang.

The likelihood that Kim, who seldom travels the North, would speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weapons trade next week on the sidelines of an important gathering in Vladivostok has grown.