Chinese delegation to visit North Korea for 75th founding anniversary: state media
Seoul, Sep 7 (EFE).- An official delegation from China will visit North Korea to celebrate the 75th anniversary of its founding this weekend, Pyongyang’s state media reported Thursday.
The delegation, made up of members of the government and the Communist Party of China headed by Vice Premier Liu Guozhong, will visit Pyongyang to participate in the festivities, according to a brief notice published by the Korean Central News Agency.
The 75th anniversary of the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (official name of the country) is celebrated on Sep. 9, the date on which the regime has said that a militia parade will be held in the capital.
The visit of the group headed by Liu comes after Pyongyang invited a Chinese delegation led by Politburo member Li Hongzhong, as well as a Russian delegation with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu at the helm, to its 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War (1950-1953) in July.
After three years of sealed borders, North Korea has begun to allow the entry of its citizens from abroad as well as foreign delegations, although only from China and Russia, Pyongyang’s closest partners.
The visit of this second Chinese delegation comes as it is believed that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could meet next week in Vladivostok with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, a meeting that would have taken shape after Shoigu met several times with the North Korean leader during his visit to Pyongyang in July.
It is speculated that Putin could want Pyongyang to sell Moscow artillery and anti-tank missiles, which Russia could use in Ukraine, while North Korea could be looking for advanced technology to make satellites and nuclear-powered submarines, as well as food aid.
Following the failure of disarmament negotiations with the United States in 2019, North Korea has exhibited a growing rapprochement with China and Russia that appears to have been further strengthening in recent months amid the increasing polarization to which the war in Ukraine is contributing. EFE
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