Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could be gearing up for talks during their upcoming visit to China.
China’s state broadcaster CCTV listed Putin and Kim first among 26 heads of state invited to a Sept. 3 military parade marking the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. North Korean state media confirmed Kim’s plans to attend.
Putin is scheduled to visit China from Aug. 31 to Sept. 3 for a regional summit, bilateral talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and the WWII commemorations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday described the trip as “completely unprecedented.”
“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,” Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told Reuters.
The South China Morning Post wrote that “the stage is set” for Putin and Kim to appear publicly alongside Xi in a show of defiance against U.S. pressure.
Russia and North Korea have strengthened diplomatic and military ties since Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The two countries signed a mutual defense pact during the Kremlin leader’s visit to Pyongyang last year.
North Korea deployed thousands of troops to Russia in late 2024 and early this year to help fend off a Ukrainian incursion in the southwestern Kursk region. According to South Korean intelligence agencies, around 600 North Korean soldiers were killed in the fighting.
Pyongyang only confirmed its troop deployment to Russia in April, acknowledging that some had been killed in combat. The United States, meanwhile, has accused the Kremlin of offering North Korea advanced space and satellite technology in return for its support.
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