Kim Jong Un, the General Secretary of North Korea’s Workers’ Party, aimed to boost foreign currency acquisition by engaging in a summit with China during the 80th anniversary of China’s Victory Day. However, assessments emerged on October 10th suggesting that China’s response fell short of North Korea’s expectations.
Researchers from the North Korea Research Division and the Regional Strategy Division at the Institute for National Security Strategy published a report titled, Kim Jong Un’s Diplomacy on China’s Victory Day: Evaluations and Prospects by Key Issues. They argued that countries exhibited subtle differences in their accounts of the outcomes of the North Korea–China and North Korea–Russia summits.
According to North Korean reports, while the leaders emphasized strengthening strategic cooperation and safeguarding mutual interests during the North Korea–China summit, they described their exchange of opinions as candid during the North Korea–Russia summit.
The report suggested that North Korea likely prioritized securing economic cooperation by restoring public relations with China as its main objective for Victory Day diplomacy, thereby indicating a preference for emphasizing strategic cooperation with China over Russia.
Despite the military nature of the Victory Day parade, the report noted that Kim did not include high-ranking military officials but instead brought Kim Deok-hoon, the head of the Party’s Economic Department, to the summit. This underscores North Korea’s keen interest in economic cooperation with China.
Consequently, the report emphasized that the most noteworthy aspects following this North Korea–China summit are the direction and scale of future economic cooperation, including China’s economic support for North Korea and the potential influx of tourists to the Wonsan-Kalma region.
According to the Chinese announcement, North Korea expressed hope to deepen mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation through the summit. However, China stated only that it would consistently support North Korea in choosing a development path suited to its circumstances and in opening a new chapter in its socialist endeavors.
The Chinese side also mentioned that Kim sought to strengthen coordination on multilateral platforms such as the United Nations (UN) to safeguard mutual and fundamental interests, although North Korean reports did not confirm this claim.
The report speculated that North Korea might have demanded that China cease enforcing sanctions, including the ban on bulk cash remittances and restrictions on labor exports, but China likely did not accede to these requests.
North Korean media omitted any mention of the mutual benefits section, which the report analyzed as potentially indicating that China’s response was insufficient to address North Korea’s demands regarding trade imbalances and increasing foreign currency acquisition.