The Korea Times

Xi emboldens Kim Jong-un

Kim Jong-un has good reason to believe that time is on his side. North Korea’s restoration of a mutual defense alliance with Russia in 2024 appears to have raised concerns in China that its leverage over Pyongyang may be eroding. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent two-day visit to North Korea for a summit with Kim suggests that Beijing has begun to view North Korea as a more significant regional partner. North Korea was Xi’s first foreign destination of the year. The diplomatic symbolism appears to have emboldened Kim. According to the North's Korean Central News Agency, Kim viewed Xi’s decision to make Pyongyang the destination of his first overseas trip of the year as a highly encouraging sign of support. The Xi-Kim summit on Monday has complicated Seoul’s foreign policy and security calculations. South Korea is particularly concerned about the absence of any Chinese commitment to North Korea’s denuclearization. During his 2019 summit with Kim in Pyongyang, Xi stated that China was willing to play a constructive role in achieving the denuclearization of the Korean Penin

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