China, North Korea vice-foreign ministers meet in Pyongyang

SEOUL - China’s vice-foreign minister was in Pyongyang on Jan 26 for a meeting with his North Korean counterpart.

China and Russia are North Korea’s traditional allies, and Washington warned in 2023 that military ties between Pyongyang and Moscow were “growing and dangerous”.

The United States has called on Beijing – the North’s biggest economic benefactor – to restrain Pyongyang.

“The Foreign Ministry delegation of the People’s Republic of China, headed by Comrade Sun Weidong, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, arrived in Pyongyang on the 25th,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said on Jan 26.

AFP photos showed Mr Sun and his delegation meeting North Korean Vice-Foreign Minister Pak Myong Ho and others at the People’s Palace of Culture in the capital.

Mr Sun’s visit comes as US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was

set to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi

on Jan 26 and 27 in Thailand, as the two powers seek to improve relations after years of tensions.

Earlier in January, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Pyongyang and Beijing had designated 2024 as the “year of DPRK-China friendship”, using the acronym of the North’s official name.

The two countries “will further promote exchange and visits in all fields, including politics, economy and culture” this year, and add “a new page to the history of the DPRK-China relations”, Mr Kim said in his message to Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to KCNA.

Mr Kim’s friendly message to Mr Xi stood in stark contrast to his recent, dramatically aggressive rhetoric towards South Korea.

Earlier in January, Mr Kim

declared Seoul his country’s “principal enemy”,

jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and outreach and threatened war over “even 0.001mm” of territorial infringement.

As the threat from the nuclear-armed North grows, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has pulled Seoul closer to longstanding ally Washington.

While

Tokyo, Seoul and Washington have held joint military exercises

against the growing North Korean threats, Beijing in 2023 sent senior officials to attend Pyongyang’s military parades.

As permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, both China and Russia have been obstructing efforts led by Washington to impose stricter sanctions on North Korea in response to its increased weapons testing activities in recent months.

Mr Kim also

successfully put a spy satellite into orbit late 2023,

after receiving what Seoul said was Russian help, in exchange for arms transfers for Moscow’s war in Ukraine. AFP