SEOUL: 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.
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 US," said Yang. - Reuters
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