North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to attend victory celebration in China

By Joyce Lee and Ju-min Park

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will visit China to attend a military parade next week marking the formal surrender of Japan in World War Two, state media said, in what is likely to be the biggest multilateral diplomatic event Kim has attended.

Kim is visiting at the invitation of China's President Xi Jinping, North Korea's state media KCNA said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who faces an outstanding arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on allegations of war crimes in Ukraine, will also be at the parade. However, Beijing is not a member of the ICC and Putin has visited China since the warrant was issued in 2023.

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No major Western and European Union leaders are among the 26 foreign heads of state and government attending apart from Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico, according to China's foreign ministry.

"It is quite unusual for Kim to attend a Victory Day ceremony, and it may be the first time Kim is attending a gathering of many heads of state, where he can meet Putin, Xi and Vietnam's Communist Party chief at once," said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

"Kim will seek to broaden his global status as a leader, and North Korea, China and Russia may seek to jointly respond to cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the U.S," said Yang.

North Korea is under heavy international sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs that were developed in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Experts and international officials say the sanctions have lost much of their bite amid growing economic, military, and political support from Russia and China.

Beijing has been one of North Korea's traditional allies and a major economic lifeline for the isolated state, though China joined other countries like the U.S. in applying international sanctions in 2017 on Pyongyang.

Xi and Kim met several times in 2018 and 2019 but relations between North Korea and China have cooled since 2020 over what experts say are issues such as Beijing pushing for the repatriation of North Korean labourers.

During this period North Korea and Russia have become closer militarily and Pyongyang has sent an unprecedented number of armaments and troops to support Russia in its war against Ukraine.

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South Korea's parliament speaker Woo Won-shik is expected to attend the parade.

Asked whether Woo would meet Kim or any other North Korean officials in China, Woo's spokesperson said on Thursday there was no planned schedule so far.

South Korean presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik told reporters on Thursday that South Korea had been aware that Kim was to attend.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said it was the first time Kim was attending such a multilateral event, which could help in bringing him to the negotiating table.

"We have to keep putting in effort so North Korea can come to dialogue... to ultimately achieve North Korea's denuclearisation."