Kim Jong Un's Visits to China
Overview
Kim Jong Un's visits to China refer to a series of summit diplomatic activities in which Kim Jong Un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, visited China officially or unofficially. Starting with his first visit to China in March 2018, he traveled between Beijing and Dalian four times through January 2019, and in September 2025 he visited Beijing again to attend the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Anti-Japanese War and the World Anti-Fascist War, which was recorded as an event symbolizing the restoration and realignment of North Korea–China relations.
Key Details
Background: The Ups and Downs of North Korea–China Relations
In the mid-2010s, as North Korea continued nuclear and missile provocations, China joined UN Security Council sanctions resolutions against North Korea, and in 2017 North Korea–China trade plunged, effectively cooling relations. However, when a phase of inter-Korean and North Korea–US dialogue opened in 2018, China activated summit diplomatic channels to secure influence over North Korea and a justification for intervention in Korean Peninsula issues, and the result was Kim Jong Un's chain of visits to China.
The Series of Visits in 2018–2019
- March 25–28, 2018 (first visit): He visited Beijing by special train and held his first summit meeting with President Xi Jinping. It was his first overseas trip after taking office and was evaluated as a signal for the normalization of North Korea–China relations.
- May 7–8, 2018 (second visit): He held talks with Xi Jinping in Dalian, Liaoning Province. It had a strong character of prior coordination ahead of the June Singapore North Korea–US summit.
- June 19–20, 2018 (third visit): He visited Beijing again to explain the results of the North Korea–US talks and confirm China's role.
- January 7–10, 2019 (fourth visit): He held a summit meeting in Beijing and discussed upgrading relations on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
All four visits were conducted in a manner in which they were reported only after the official schedule had ended, simultaneously revealing the closed nature of North Korean diplomacy and China's cautious attitude.
The September 2025 Visit to China
On September 2, 2025, Kim Jong Un arrived in Beijing by special train and on September 3 attended the military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Anti-Japanese War and the World Anti-Fascist War held in Tiananmen Square. The scene of him standing in the viewing stand together with President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin was broadcast and interpreted as a symbolic scene of a North Korea–China–Russia trilateral cooperation structure. This visit is evaluated as his first visit to China in about six years since 2019 and the first case of Kim Jong Un appearing on a multilateral diplomatic stage.
Main Agendas
Four axes generally recurred at the summit table. First, the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the issue of regime security guarantees; second, the easing of sanctions against North Korea and the resumption of economic cooperation; third, infrastructure and trade expansion in the Tumen River–Yalu River border region; fourth, strategic coordination amid US–China conflict and the Russia variable. During the 2025 visit to China, it is reported that expansion of economic and military cooperation and the regularization of high-level exchanges were discussed.
Reactions and Implications
South Korea, the United States, and Japan closely watched the results of the visit to China and emphasized the need to maintain channels of contact with North Korea. Analyses suggest that as North Korea–China alignment deepens, China's influence over North Korea grows, while North Korea is pursuing a dual strategy of using military cooperation with Russia as leverage to offset its dependence on China. Domestically, the need to monitor the effectiveness of North Korea policy and changes in North Korea–China relations has been steadily pointed out.
Latest Trends
From 2024 to 2025, North Korea–China relations recovered rapidly as rail and road transportation and human exchanges, which had been suspended after the COVID-19 lockdown, were gradually resumed. Taking the September 2025 military parade attendance as an opportunity, the two countries are moving toward regularizing high-level visits, and the possibility of President Xi Jinping making a return visit to Pyongyang is also being mentioned. However, North Korea's statements treating its possession of nuclear weapons as a fait accompli and the expansion of military cooperation with Russia are acting as burdensome factors for China, so North Korea–China relations are expected to develop in a structure in which "strategic bandwagoning" and "mismatch of interests" coexist. Experts on Korean Peninsula affairs cite whether Kim Jong Un's visits to China will go beyond one-off events and become established as a regularized summit diplomatic channel as a key point for observation.
Related Topics
- [[김정은]]
- [[시진핑]]
- [[북중관계]]
- [[한반도 비핵화]]
- [[북미 정상회담]]