In a collective rebuff to the West, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will travel to Beijing next week to attend China’s V-Day parade. He will join Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Wednesday event, which marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The parade is being boycotted by the United States and major Western European countries, who are protesting Putin’s presence due to the war in Ukraine. This absence allows China, Russia, and North Korea to project a unified front without Western counter-messaging.
This is Kim Jong Un’s first trip abroad in several years and is seen as a vital opportunity to reinforce ties with his primary benefactor, China. The economic support from Beijing is the lifeblood of the North Korean state.
The trilateral gathering is a powerful symbol of a changing world order. With North Korea actively supplying Russia’s war machine, the joint appearance of Kim, Xi, and Putin will be seen as a formal declaration of their strategic partnership.