In this photo provided by North Korean state media, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un receives Wang Huning, China’s No. 4 ranked leader, in Pyongyang, North Korea, July 15, 2026.
According to North Korea’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Jo Yong Won, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea and a member of the Presidium of its Political Bureau, held talks with Wang Huning, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Central Committee of China’s ruling Communist Party, at the Pyongyang Assembly Hall on July 15.
“The ever-changing present international political situation has required the two countries to further strengthen the militant unity, support and solidarity and steadily intensify and develop the friendly and cooperation relations for the victorious advance of the common cause of socialism in conformity with the basic spirit of the DPRK-China Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance,” Jo was quoted as saying in the KCNA report. (DPRK is an acronym of North Korea’s official name: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.) As Pyongyang seeks to enhance its ties with Beijing, Jo reiterated Pyongyang’s will to develop the bilateral relations “in a many-sided way.”
