Xi, Putin underscore deepening ties with North Korea in anniversary messages to Kim

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin sent congratulatory messages to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to mark the 78th anniversary of North Korea’s founding, which falls on Sept. 9.

The messages — their full transcripts splashed across the front page of the party-run paper Rodong Sinmun on Wednesday — underscore Pyongyang’s deepening alignment with Beijing and Moscow amid intensifying confrontation with the United States and other Western countries.

“The two countries, China and the DPRK, are friendly socialist neighbors defending and helping one another and sharing their destiny,” Xi said, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), referring to the North by the initialism for its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

“I am willing to strive, together with you, Comrade General Secretary, to make greater contributions to constantly improving the well-being and friendship of the peoples of the two countries and promoting the regional and global peace and stability, development and prosperity by steadily intensifying the strategic guidance over the relations between the two parties and two countries and joining hands with you to accelerate the development of each side's party and state affairs,” the Chinese president added.

Putin also noted that Russia will “continue to do the closest joint work to further consolidate the comprehensive strategic partnership” between the two countries, according to KCNA.

“This fully conforms to the interests of the peoples of the Russian Federation and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and will contribute to ensuring regional security and establishing a new, more just and multipolarized world order,” Putin said. 

The Rodong Sinmun also carried congratulatory messages from Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council and chairman of the United Russia party, Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary and Vietnamese President To Lam and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

North Korea has been working to strengthen an anti-U.S. and anti-Western alignment centered on Pyongyang, Beijing and Moscow since Kim attended China's Victory Day celebrations in the Chinese capital in September of last year, which marked the 80th anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, which lasted from 1931 to 1945.

More recently, North Korea has repeatedly criticized stronger security cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan, as well as Japan's rearmament and NATO's military activities. By doing so, North Korea seeks to highlight its position as a key member of the anti-Western camp.

“North Korea, having secured China and Russia as its backers amid confrontation between rival blocs, appears to be seeking to fully capitalize on its strategic position,” said Jeong Yu-seok, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

“It is highly likely to continue trying, for the time being, to capitalize on ideologically driven bloc formation to neutralize sanctions against North Korea and gain recognition as a nuclear weapons state.”

Senior North Korean party and government officials visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on Wednesday, where the bodies of North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung and former leader Kim Jong-il lie in state. A parade and an evening celebration were also held at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang.

Kim Jong-un, however, did not appear at either the visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun or the events marking the anniversary.

BY CHUNG YEONG-GYO [[email protected]]