Kim Jong-un with Xi Jinping
North Korea is planning a grand Korean War armistice anniversary party this week, which will be accompanied by Chinese diplomats, the first known foreign visitors since Pyongyang’s 2020 total border shutdown.
According to state media, Pyongyang will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the armistice, known as Victory Day in the North, in a grand manner that will go down in history.
The official Korean Central News Agency stated, and Beijing confirmed, that a Chinese team led by Politburo member Li Hongzhong would travel to the North for the occasion, marking the first known foreign delegation visit since the outbreak began.
Since early 2020, North Korea has been under a strict self-imposed coronavirus blockade to defend itself from Covid-19, which has prevented even its own nationals from entering the country.
It just resumed some trade with China last year, and Beijing’s new envoy was only appointed earlier this year.
Beijing stated that the delegation would go to Pyongyang on Wednesday, implying that they would not be subjected to extensive quarantine prior to the anniversary event on Thursday.
On July 27, 1953, an armistice agreement was reached to cease Korean War hostilities, although the two Koreas remain formally at war because the agreement was never replaced by a peace treaty.
North Korea is set to perform a large-scale military parade and other festivities this week to commemorate the anniversary, with satellite photographs showing soldiers and people rehearsing for months, according to Seoul-based specialized site NK News.
Leader Kim Jong Un’s most powerful nuclear-capable missiles and other military capabilities are expected to pass through Kim Il Sung Square during the event, according to the report.
The president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, Yang Moo-jin stated, “It is expected that North Korea will try to reap the benefit of Beijing condoning its nuclear development by unveiling a new ICBM when a Chinese high-level delegation attends its large-scale military parade”.
“It seems that the intention is to show off the strengthening of solidarity between North Korea and China amidst the global political disruption caused by the ongoing US-China conflict”, Moo-jin added.
He went on to say that it could possibly be a hint that the border between the North and China will be reopened in the near future.
North Korea fired two ballistic missiles late Monday, according to Seoul, the latest in a string of weapons tests by Pyongyang in recent weeks, as Seoul and Washington step up defense cooperation.
South Korea welcomed a US nuclear-capable submarine last week, the first such deployment since 1981.
A second US submarine, the nuclear-powered USS Annapolis, landed at a South Korean military facility on Monday, presumably further infuriating the North.
Relations between the two Koreas are at an all-time low, as negotiation between Pyongyang and Seoul has stalled and Kim has urged for a surge in missile development, including tactical nukes.
Seoul and Washington have conducted cooperative military exercises using sophisticated stealth jets and US strategic weapons to increase deterrence.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have also risen recently as a result of the disappearance of a US soldier, Travis King, who was on a tour of the demilitarized zone when he ran across the border into North Korea last week.
The UN Command, a US-led multinational force in charge of overseeing the Korean War truce, announced Monday that it has begun talks with Pyongyang about the missing American serviceman.
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