By Shannon Tiezzi
Liu Yunshan is the first high-ranking Chinese official to visit North Korea in 4 years.
One of China’s top officials arrived in North Korea today, where he will join the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the Korean Workers’ Party. The anniversary proper is October 10, but Liu Yunshan will spend four days in North Korea. Outside of anniversary events, Liu will hold official meetings with North Korean leaders.
Liu is the first Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) member to visit North Korea since Kim Jong-un assumed control of the country in 2011. China-North Korea ties have been icy since then, and particularly since Kim had his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, executed in 2013 (Jang was seen as China’s preferred interlocutor in the Kim regime). Beijing was also nonplussed by Pyongyang’s decision to go ahead with a nuclear test in February 2013, during China’s New Year holiday and just weeks before Xi Jinping officially assumed the presidency. Neither Xi nor Kim have visited each other’s countries since coming to power.
The big question facing this visit is whether Liu will be accorded a meeting with Kim. The last high-ranking North Korean official to visit China, Choe Ryong-hae, attended China’s military parade in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Beijing declined to say whether Choe was granted a private meeting with Xi; most sources (including China’s Global Times) agree Choe did not get such a meeting.
Read the full story at The Diplomat