Kim Jong-un has been rather lonely since ascending the throne in North Korea in late 2011: Not one foreign leader has visited him in Pyongyang. (No, Dennis Rodman doesn’t count.) The snubbing from China, in particular, was notable, as well as literally unprecedented: Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao all visited North Korea twice during their respective tenures as Chinese president. The current Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, of course, had reason to be wary of Kim, given that the North Korean dictator presided over the execution of his own uncle Jang Song-thaek, who was widely seen as Beijing’s man in Pyongyang. And Xi is generally thought to have been signaling his displeasure at a North Korean regime that has been nothing but a headache for him for the past several years.
It looks now, however, like Kim’s isolation at home is about to end. In April, Beijing signaled that Xi Jinping was planning a trip to Pyongyang. And today, the indispensable website Daily NK reports that preparations in the border city of Dandong, China, are apparent. “The Chinese authorities have instituted tough measures to crackdown on smuggling in Dandong, Liaoning Province, in what may be signs of preparations for an upcoming visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to North Korea,” Daily NK reported. The timing is apropos: Sept. 9 is the holiday marking the establishment of North Korea, and Xi is thought to be planning to visit at that time.
His visit would also confirm what appears to be a newly established pattern of meeting with Kim prior to the North Korean dictator holding important summits with foreign leaders. Kim thrice traveled to China earlier this year; once before his first meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, and later before his stagy Singapore summit with President Donald Trump. He then returned for a debriefing. Now Xi is paying a visit in advance of Kim’s another scheduled summit with South Korean president Moon Jae-in, which is on tap for later next month.
Xi’s planned visit does not mean, as some have suggested, that North Korea is a mere puppet state of China. North Korea, to a large extent, still does what it wants, consequences be damned. But it certainly indicates that relations between the leaders of the two treaty allies are warming.
