North Korea's Leading Official Travels to China for an Effort to Repair Diplomatic Relations
In a significant development, Ri Su Yong, a top North Korean official, embarked on a three-day visit to China on May 31. This visit marks the highest-ranking North Korean official trip to China since last year, and comes after South Korea announced that North Korea attempted to launch a powerful new medium-range missile, but failed.
Ri Su Yong, a senior North Korean official and member of the Politburo, is known for his involvement in high-level diplomatic engagements. He recently met with Chinese official Song Tao, the head of the international department of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, during his visit.
Relations between China and North Korea have soured due to Pyongyang's nuclear tests, with Beijing supporting UN sanctions. The lack of any official Chinese representation at the North Korean party congress, which took place in early May, was viewed as a sign of friction between the two traditional allies.
North Korea held its first party congress for nearly 40 years in early May, during which it formally endorsed leader Kim Jong-Un's policy of expanding the country's nuclear arsenal. The attempted launch is the latest in a series of setbacks for North Korea's ballistic weapons program, which aspires to threaten the US mainland.
Interestingly, Kim Jong-Un has not visited China since coming to power, and Ri Su Yong's visit to China is the first since Kim Jong-Un's close aide Choe Ryong Hae attended a military parade in Beijing last year.
The visit by Ri Su Yong comes at a time when Kim Jong-Un expressed great satisfaction over the successful game of the local Sobaeksu basketball team, who beat China's Olympic squad in three matches.
China, North Korea's largest trading partner and key diplomatic protector for decades, hopes to use this visit as an opportunity to improve relations between the two nations. South Korea also hopes that this development could contribute to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and encourage North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.
It is important to note that UN resolutions ban North Korea from any use of ballistic missile technology. Despite this ban, North Korea regularly fires short-range missiles into the sea off its east coast.
As the world watches, the outcome of Ri Su Yong's visit to China could have significant implications for the future of North Korea's nuclear ambitions and the geopolitical landscape of the region.
