Russian Defense Minister And Chinese Politburo Officials Lead Delegation To North Korea, Observer: Maintain Balanced Relations

Korean People Army officials during a pilgrimage to the Kumsusan Palace of Sun in Pyongyang. (Source: KCNA)

JAKARTA - North Korea welcomes a senior delegation from two friendly countries, China and Russia, ahead of the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War which will fall tomorrow.

Delegation came led by senior officials, with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu leading the Russian delegation, while Communist Party Politburo Li Hongzhong led the Chinese delegation. They are expected to be presented with a massive military parade, including showing off their newest weapons.

Analysts said the parade would likely include North Korea's nuclear warhead missile banned by the UN Security Council, where Russia and China are its permanent members.

This is the first time a foreign delegation has visited North Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic,

The visit was the first foreign delegation to visit North Korea since the COVID-19 pandemic began, when Pyongyang wanted to deepen its ties with Beijing and Moscow, finding common ground in their rivalry with Washington and the West.

"North Korea invited delegations from the two countries to appear to be a historical case, in which Pyongyang is preparing to fight the West, but feels the need to maintain relatively balanced relations with China and Russia," said Anthony Rinna, a specialist in the Korea-Russia relationship in Sino-NK. website that analyzes the region, reported Reuters July 26.

Rinna said only time would determine whether the visit signaled broader easing of North Korea's international travel ban, which could theoretically provide US officials with the opportunity to negotiate the release of US soldiers Travis King, who crossed into North Korea last week.

However, it seems unlikely Pyongyang will be trying to engage with Washington in the near future, and may think it is still in the New Cold War on a full scale with the United States, Rinna added.

Meanwhile, images from the Russian Ministry of Defense and North Korean media showed Defense Minister Shoigu greeted by North Korean Defense Minister Kang Sun Nam and Russian Ambassador Alexander Matsegora at airports as well as ranks of North Korean and Russian troops.

The military parade in Pyongyang is likely to involve 15,000 personnel, and may feature a new design of nuclear-capable weapons, Yang Moo-jin, a professor at North Korea's University of Studies in Seoul.

Commercial satellite imagery over the past few weeks shows participants practicing, including in downtown Kim Il Sung Square where the event will take place, with a large formation showing the numbers "70" and other slogans, said Dave Schmerler, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Non-Proliferation Studies (SSP).

Earlier, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un began this week's commemoration with a visit to the funeral of Chinese soldiers fighting in the war, known as the Indonesia Liberation War, state media KCNA reported on Wednesday.

KCNA also reported that Leader Kim visited the Cemetery of the Indonesian Liberation War Martyrs on Monday.

The United States accused North Korea of giving weapons to Russia during the war in Ukraine, including sending infantry rockets and missiles to the Kremlin-backed Wagner mercenaries group in November 2022.

Meanwhile, Pyongyang and Moscow denied the claims, but Leader Kim has pledged to increase strategic cooperation between countries.

Meanwhile, China, amid international sanctions over North Korea's missile and nuclear program, Beijing has so far become North Korea's largest trading partner. China's export to its secret neighbors in June eight times higher than the previous year.

Beijing confirmed on Monday it was "strictly" imposing UN sanctions on North Korea.

Separately, Russia and China have rejected recent attempts by the United States and several European countries to impose new sanctions on North Korea.

Instead, they pushed for existing measures to be relaxed for humanitarian purposes and persuaded Pyongyang to return to failed denuclearization talks in 2019.

Prof. Yang said the delegates could signal that long-stop diplomatic visits could continue.

"If North Korea also sends a high-level delegation to China for the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games, that would mean the resumption of high-level're-ail diplomacy' between North Korea and China since the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.