North Korea's Kim Jong-un to attend Beijing military parade with Putin

North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un will attend the first multilateral event of his premiership when he appears beside international leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin at a military parade in Beijing next week.

China’s foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday that Kim would travel to the Chinese capital for celebrations on 3 September to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II.

“We warmly welcome General Secretary Kim Jong-un to China to attend the commemorative events,” said Hong Lei, China's assistant minister of foreign affairs.

KCNA, North Korea’s state news agency, also said that Kim would be in attendance at the “Victory Day” parade, which is set to include a procession of tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers and a display of the country’s latest weaponry.

Although Kim has held bilateral meetings with world leaders including US President Donald Trump since assuming power in 2011, he has never taken part in multilateral proceedings before.

In total, 26 foreign leaders are expected at the event in Beijing, including Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Myanmar’s military ruler Min Aung Hliang.

Given the EU’s opposition to Putin’s war in Ukraine, there will be little European representation at the parade.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who unlike most of his European peers has maintained a relationship with Russia, will be the only leader from the bloc in attendance.

Kim’s trip to Beijing will mark his first in-person meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping since June 2019, when the pair met in Pyongyang. Earlier that year, the North Korean leader travelled to China for talks.

China is one of Pyongyang’s principal allies, with North Korea relying on Beijing for the majority of its external trade.

The isolated country’s other chief ally is Russia. Since the start of Moscow’s all-out war in Ukraine, relations between the Kremlin and Pyongyang have deepened, with the pair reviving a Cold War defence treaty last June.

North Korea has sent thousands of its troops to Russia’s Kursk province to fight off a Ukrainian incursion there. In exchange, experts believe Moscow is helping its ally with food, oil and weapons technology.

Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said that North Korean ties with China have been affected by the move.

“Pyongyang’s illicit cooperation with Moscow has strained ties with Beijing, even as China’s political and economic support remains vital for the North Korean regime,” Easley said.