Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang on Monday for his first visit to North Korea since 2019, at a time when an emboldened Kim Jong Un has expanded his regime's trade and military relationship with Russia.

In a letter published in North Korea's state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper ahead of his visit, Xi wrote, "no matter how times change or how the international situation evolves, the traditional friendship between China and North Korea remains unbreakable, enduring, and constantly radiates vitality."

Since the North Korean dictatorship emerged out of the ashes of the Korean War, China has been Pyongyang's primary geopolitical and financial benefactor.

However, as North Korea provides military support to Russia's war in Ukraine, Xi will be motivated to "consolidate and reconfirm the relationship with the North," said Choo Jae-woo, a professor of foreign policy at South Korea's Kyung Hee University's department of Chinese studies.

Kim and Xi last met in September 2025 at a military parade in Beijing. 

China shows off military might in massive parade

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North Korea gets closer to Russia 

"Kim has been very active in improving his relationship with Russia in the last few years and China clearly feels that it is lagging behind," Choo told DW.

Choo said it was significant that Xi's visit comes ahead of the 65th anniversary of the signing of the China-North Korea "Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance."

"The expectation was that Xi could go to Pyongyang on the anniversary, but I think it is significant that he has gone a month earlier," Choo said.

"It would have been more appropriate for him to go on the July 11 anniversary, but going early shows that Xi is anxious about North Korea getting too close to Russia," he added.

Choo also points out that China has, in recent months, permitted large-scale exports across the border into North Korea, while many of Kim's tourist resort projects are seeing large numbers of big-spending Chinese visitors.

Kim is likely to trumpet bilateral ties and seek greater connections to China's vast economic power to bolster North Korea's economy, which has already reported a respectable 3% GDP growth in both of the last two years.

North Korea's desire to be a 'normal state'

Choo added that the visit by the Chinese leader also provides Kim an opportunity to boost North Korea's legitimacy and international respect on the global stage.

"Kim wants the North to be seen as a 'normal state' and to use this visit to start to expand the scope and reach of his diplomatic efforts, such as by becoming part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization or part of the BRICS alliance," he said.

Set up by China in 2001, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) brings together 10 full member states in central and eastern Asia to promote security and economic cooperation. The BRICS is similarly made up of 11 major emerging markets and developing countries around the world, acting as a political and economic coordination forum for the "Global South."

"Kim wants to piggyback on China and Russia so North Korea can become part of these multilateral programs that the two countries founded, giving him standing and a position as a full member of international society," Choo said.

Xi and Kim in the spotlight

Kim Sang-woo, a former politician with the left-leaning South Korean Congress for New Politics and now a member of the board of the Kim Dae-jung Peace Foundation, said Xi's visit also intends to "emphasize that China is now one of the two leading countries in the world, alongside the US."

"He wants to demonstrate that China is the hegemon of the Indo-Pacific region and to point out that the commitment and reliability of the US to the region is becoming less and less certain," he told DW.

"That is a message to countries in the region that are increasingly banding together — including South Korea, Japan, India, the Philippines, Australia and beyond," Kim added.

Pyongyang also wants "to show that North Korea is a country that others need to take notice of," an ambition that is assisted by showing that China is extending "100% support and renewed recognition of the alliance," he said.

Xi may also be stepping in at an opportune time as it increasingly appears that Russia is flailing in its attempts to seize more land in Ukraine and defeat Kyiv, Kim Sang-woo added.

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Edited by: Wesley Rahn