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Touting the achievements Pyongyang has made in recent years, Xi de facto recognized North Korea as a nuclear-armed state.
According to the state news agencies of China and North Korea, on June 8, Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, held a summit meeting around 6:30 p.m. local time at the Kumsusan State Guesthouse. It was the second summit between Xi and Kim since Kim visited Beijing to attend a military parade in September 2025 commemorating the 80th anniversary of China’s victory in World War II.
“Your current visit will mark an important occasion of showing once again that the DPRK and China have always stood together on the right side of history for independence and justice and their relations are definitely solid as they have stood the test of history under any international upheavals,” Kim was quoted as saying during the meeting by the North’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency. (DPRK is an acronym of North Korea’s official name: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.)
Affirming his regime’s firm support for Beijing, Kim also said that his top priority is strengthening bilateral relations with China into a “solid strategic relationship.”
