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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/10\/24\/world\/asia\/north-korea-kim-jong-un-china.html?emc=edit_na_20261024&nl=breaking-news&segment_id=228627",
    "parsed_content": "Russia-Ukraine WarStarshieldTrump-Zelensky RelationshipRussians Reflect on the WarUkraine\u2019s F-16 UseRussia-U.S. TiesAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTKim Jong-un Makes First Visit to China in Over a YearThe North Korean leader crossed the border on a newly opened bridge for the trip, as the two countries move to deepen ties.Listen \u00b7 6:21 min Share full articleThe North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, with North Korean Army commanders in Pyongyang, in a photograph released by North Korean state media on Saturday.Credit...KCNA, via ReutersBy Choe Sang-Hun and Chris BuckleyChoe Sang-Hun reported from Seoul, and Chris Buckley from Taipei, Taiwan.Oct. 24, 2026Updated 9:12 a.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra m\u00e1s de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de b\u00fasqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google North Korea\u2019s leader, Kim Jong-un, visited neighboring China on Saturday in his first visit there in more than a year, meeting with a senior official and declaring gratitude for Beijing\u2019s decades of support, according to Chinese state media.Xinhua, China\u2019s main state news agency, confirmed Mr. Kim\u2019s one-day visit after a day of reports from South Korean officials and news media, which said he had crossed a newly opened bridge spanning the border between North Korea and northeast China.Mr. Kim and Wang Huning, a senior Chinese Communist Party official, commemorated 76 years since Mao Zedong sent Chinese forces into North Korea to support its embattled Communist troops during the Korean War against an American-led United Nations coalition, Xinhua reported.In the Chinese city of Dandong, a hub for travel and commerce with North Korea, Mr. Kim said he had come to show his gratitude for the Chinese troops who fought and died on the North\u2019s side in the Korean War, according to Xinhua. He presented a wreath at a Chinese memorial for the war, Xinhua said.The ceremony also appeared to be an opportunity for the two governments to display their deepening ties despite heavy international sanctions against North Korea. Their partnership was highlighted by the opening this month of the New Yalu River Bridge, where Mr. Kim made his crossing, according to South Korean officials and media.Mr. Kim\u2019s trip demonstrated the \u201cblood-sealed friendship\u201d between China and North Korea, said Mr. Wang, who for three decades served as a senior ideological adviser to Chinese leaders, including Xi Jinping, the current top leader. The visit was \u201cof great significance for carrying forward the traditional friendship between China and North Korea\u201d and \u201cfor deepening political mutual trust,\u201d Mr. Wang said, according to Xinhua.But Mr. Kim did not meet with Mr. Xi this time, the Chinese report indicated. Mr. Wang passed on greetings from Mr. Xi to Mr. Kim, and Mr. Kim conveyed his best wishes to Mr. Xi, Xinhua said.\u201cWe are grateful for China\u2019s longstanding support and help for the socialist cause of the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea,\u201d Mr. Kim was quoted as saying, using North Korea\u2019s formal name. \u201cThe prospects for cooperation between our two sides are extremely broad.\u201dYoun Kun-young, a member of the intelligence committee of South Korea\u2019s National Assembly, told The New York Times that while the specific purpose of Mr. Kim\u2019s trip required further analysis, \u201cit is currently presumed to serve two objectives: signaling a positive outlook for a possible North Korea-U.S. summit and addressing key developments in North Korea-China relations, including the opening of the New Yalu River Bridge.\u201dMr. Kim also returned to North Korea over the new bridge, Xinhua said.Mr. Xi\u2019s failure to meet with Mr. Kim this time did not appear to be a snub. Starting on Monday, Mr. Xi will preside over a four-day meeting in Beijing of the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s Central Committee, an assembly of around 300 senior officials. That would leave little, if any time, for other meetings in the days beforehand. Mr. Xi visited Pyongyang, North Korea\u2019s capital, in June, and Mr. Kim feted him with grandiose pageantry.The latest public appearance by Mr. Kim will help dispel recent social media rumors of his death, which South Korean intelligence officials had already dismissed as false.ImageThe New Yalu River Bridge, linking China and North Korea, on Oct. 15.Credit...Michael Zhang\/Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty ImagesSigns of Mr. Kim\u2019s trip had spread online before the official confirmation. Posts on Chinese social media showed traffic snarls in Dandong, and some users said residential compounds in the city had been sealed off to prevent people from going out. The area around Wanda Plaza, a commercial hub in Dandong, was blocked, with no one allowed to pass, according to other posts.Diplomats and analysts have speculated that Mr. Kim might attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders\u2019 meeting next month in Shenzhen, in southern China, though it is not clear if China has invited him.President Trump, who has repeatedly expressed his eagerness to resume personal diplomacy with Mr. Kim, has said he will attend that meeting.Mr. Kim\u2019s meetings with Mr. Trump in 2018 and 2019 were either preceded or followed by meetings between Mr. Kim and Mr. Xi, talks that appeared to show that Pyongyang and Beijing were consulting each other on their approaches to Washington.The Saturday visit may be a further sign that China and North Korea are enhancing their ties, even as Mr. Kim also tries to deepen ties with Russia. North Korea has provided Russia with critical artillery shells, missiles and troops for its war in Ukraine, prompting Moscow to sign a mutual defense treaty and supply the North with food, oil and advanced military technology.In response, Mr. Xi has moved to reassert Beijing\u2019s influence. He invited both Mr. Kim and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to a military parade in Beijing in September 2025. Rail service between Beijing and Pyongyang, suspended during the Covid pandemic, resumed in March.Bilateral trade has expanded rapidly. Decades of international sanctions have left North Korea reliant on China for nearly all of its external trade.Mr. Kim\u2019s first visit to China, and his first trip abroad as North Korea\u2019s leader, was in 2018. Since then, he has traveled to China several times, holding talks with Mr. Xi almost every time. On his previous visit, last year, he attended the military parade in Beijing, which marked 80 years since the end of World War II.Murphy Zhao contributed reporting from Hong Kong.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT"
}