Meeting with China's No. 4 official dispels death rumors; unannounced same-day visit signals new normal in North Korea-China ties
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un crossed the new Yalu River Bridge by vehicle for a same-day visit to Dandong in China's Liaoning Province on Saturday, meeting Wang Huning, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, before returning home. It was Kim's sixth visit to China and his first since traveling to Beijing last year for the 80th anniversary of China's victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan — a gap of about 13 months. Notably, it was the first time Kim returned from a China visit without meeting President Xi Jinping.
The visit broke sharply from the pattern of Kim's previous five trips to China. On each of those visits — beginning with his first in March 2018 — Kim held a summit with Xi. This time, he met Wang, ranked fourth in China's leadership hierarchy. Xi's schedule was a factor: he was set to preside over the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing from Monday through Thursday. Even so, analysts described the arrangement as highly unusual.
Kim's choice of Dandong as his destination and his decision to travel by vehicle on a same-day itinerary were also without precedent. During his Beijing visit last year, both Chinese and North Korean state media announced the trip roughly a week in advance. This time, news of the visit emerged on the day itself, with no prior announcement from either side.
"Traveling by vehicle for a same-day visit maximizes the dramatic effect while also sending a message that working-level visits between North Korea and China can happen at any time," said Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University.
Kim also toured a bus factory in Dandong, inspecting the production facility and examining finished vehicles. UN Security Council sanctions resolutions ban the export of transportation equipment to North Korea, and analysts say the factory visit signals both defiance of those sanctions and a deepening of practical cooperation between the two countries.
Kim's itinerary — which included a visit to the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea Memorial — is also read as a message directed at US President Donald Trump, who is set to meet Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, on Nov. 18-19.
China, too, appeared to use the visit to reaffirm its leverage over North Korea as a bargaining chip with Washington. China refers to the Korean War as the "War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea," framing it as a struggle to defend North Korea against the United States, and marks Oct. 25 — the date Chinese forces first fought in North Korea in 1950 — as its official intervention anniversary. Kim's visit on that date carried its own symbolic weight as a signal to the US.
Meanwhile, Chinese state media used the term "blood alliance" to describe the bilateral relationship only once in their coverage, while North Korean media used similar expressions six times. Analysts interpreted the disparity as Pyongyang's effort to highlight solidarity between the two countries and underscore China's influence as strongly as possible.
The visit also served to demonstrate Kim's vitality to South Korea and the international community at a time when rumors of his death had been circulating widely on social media. The speculation had persisted in part because the closed nature of the North Korean system makes it difficult to definitively dispel such claims.
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