(Seoul·Beijing=Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Eun-jung, Correspondent Jeong Seong-jo = North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un arrived in Beijing on the afternoon of the 2nd to attend the military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of China's 'Victory Day,' reported the Korean Central News Agency.
At around 9 p.m. that day, the Korean Central News Agency, citing the Foreign Ministry's press office, reported that the special train carrying Chairman Kim arrived in Beijing, the capital of China, at 4 p.m. local time (5 p.m. Korean time).
China's Xinhua News Agency also briefly reported that"Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and Chairman of the State Affairs Commission, arrived in Beijing on the 2nd to attend the 80th anniversary of China's victory in World War II."
At Beijing Station, key officials including Cai Qi, Secretary of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of China's security line (member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and officially ranked 5th), Wang Yi, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Central Committee (also serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs), and Yin Yong, Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, came out to greet him.
In a photo released by the Korean Central News Agency, Chairman Kim, wearing a black suit and a red tie, gets off the special train and greets Secretary Chai Chi and Director Wang Yi on the platform, shaking hands one after another.
Then, he walked along the red carpeted VIP platform of Beijing Station with Chinese officials, smiling, while being lined up with a Chinese military honor guard.
In the photo, Kim's daughter Ju-ae followed closely behind him, along with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui and Party secretaries Jo Yong-won and Kim Tok-hun. Other dignitaries who greeted Kim included Wang Yajun, the Chinese Ambassador to North Korea, and Sun Weidong, the Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of Korean Peninsula affairs.
The article did not mention whether his wife, Ri Sol-ju, or his younger sister, Vice Department Director Kim Yo-jong, were accompanying him.
When Chairman Kim visited China for the fourth time in January 2019, Song Tao, director (ministerial level) of the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China, which is in charge of party-to-party diplomacy, greeted Chairman Kim in Dandong, on the border with North Korea. In Beijing, he was received by Wang Huning, then secretary of the Party Central Secretariat, and Cai Qi, then secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee.
Considering that Chairman Kim's visit to China was not a standalone event between the two countries but part of a multilateral event hosted by China, the level of protocol adopted by China is believed to be equivalent to a state visit.
On that day, Chairman Kim met with Chinese officials and said,"I am pleased to visit the People's Republic of China again after six years," the Korean Central News Agency reported. He also expressed gratitude for the hospitality of the Party, government, and people, including President Xi Jinping.
It is unusual for North Korea to disclose its top leader's overseas travel itinerary in real time like this. This visit to China was officially reported within hours of his departure from Pyongyang and arrival in Beijing.
Chairman Kim's visit to China is his first in six years and eight months, since January 2019.
At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Chairman Kim is scheduled to attend the military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of China's Victory Day in Beijing on the 3rd, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin and others.
