hankyoreh

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks to Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin during the latter’s visit to Pyongyang on Aug. 14, 2025. (KCNA/Yonhap)

The difference in North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s approaches toward China and Russia is stark. Russia is praised as a historic ally, while China seems to be relegated to the margins.

On Thursday and Friday, Kim accompanied Russian Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, who visited Pyongyang as a guest of honor for the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule. 

In a speech at an event celebrating the country’s liberation held at the Arch of Triumph Square in Pyongyang on Thursday, Kim Jong-un asserted that “the strength of unity” between North Korea and Russia is “inexhaustible,” while noting that bilateral ties “are being elevated to those of an alliance unprecedented in history.”

He further emphasized that he “recall[s] with deep reverence the militant feats of the officers of the Red Army [of the former Soviet Union] who shed their blood in the liberation cause of our people.” This is high praise crediting the former Soviet Union — the forerunner of today’s Russia — for significantly contributing to Korea’s liberation.

However, Kim made no mention of the Chinese Communist Party’s support, offering a selective historical account of Korea’s liberation. Despite his omission, the “armed struggle of [Korea’s] fine sons and daughters against the militarist Japan” that Kim emphasized is more closely related to China than to the former Soviet Union. 

Kim Jong-un’s grandfather, Kim Il-sung, was in fact forced to cross the Tumen River in 1942 by the Japanese Kwantung Army and joined the Soviet Far East Army’s 88th Separate Rifle Brigade in the Primorsky Krai region, but prior to that he engaged in armed anti-Japanese struggle as a mid-level cadre of the Chinese Communist Party’s Northeast Counter-Japanese United Army. 

Kim Jong-un’s disparate treatment and regard for China and Russia have to do with the Russia-Ukraine war that began in February 2022, and the subsequent restoration of a de facto North Korea-Russia alliance via a mutual defense treaty signed on June 19, 2024.

The conviviality of North Korea-Russia relations, in contrast to the aloofness between North Korea and China, is evident in the communication between each nation’s leaders and the travels of high-ranking officials. High-ranking leaders have frequently traveled between North Korea and Russia, with Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of the Russian Security Council and a close aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, visiting North Korea three times this year alone. On the other hand, there have been no public visits by high-ranking officials between North Korea and China this year. The last meeting of this kind took place last April, when Zhao Leji, the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, visited North Korea. 

In terms of communication between state leaders, Kim Jong-un has been exchanging letters with Putin on a regular basis. Kim also publicly disclosed a phone call with Putin on Aug. 12, but there have been no reports of letters exchanged with Chinese President Xi Jinping since New Year’s greetings were sent in January.

“As long as the Russia-Ukraine war continues, there will be no significant changes in Kim Jong-un’s strategy and attitude,” a high-ranking informant familiar with North Korea’s relations with China and Russia told the Hankyoreh on Sunday.

“Once the war ends, there will be political shifts in Northeast Asia, and Kim Jong-un will also adjust his strategy,” they added. 

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

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