A high level Chinese and Russian delegation has been visiting North Korea since the Covid restrictions

Seoul, South Korea
CNN
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China and Russia are sending high-level delegations to North Korea this week, in a rare flurry of diplomatic activity for the reclusive nation as it prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War.

North Korea closed its borders during the coronavirus pandemic, deepening the isolation of a country already one of the most isolated places in the world — and now its closest allies are set to visit for a historic import moment.

Chinese Communist Party official Li Hongzhong, part of the party’s Central Policy-Making Committee and who holds a leadership position in the supreme body of its rubber parliament, will lead a delegation to Pyongyang this week, according to a statement from Hu Zhaoming, a spokesman for the Central Committee’s International Liaison Department.

The visit is believed to be the highest delegation from China since the coronavirus pandemic.

The statement said Lee will attend celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War, and his visit follows an invitation from North Korea.

“The visit will be important for what it says about Beijing’s support for North Korea as well as Pyongyang’s willingness to ease border restrictions in the era of the pandemic,” said Leif Eric Eisley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Women’s University in Seoul.

The Russian Defense Ministry said a Russian delegation headed by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu would visit North Korea from July 25-27 to celebrate its 70th anniversary.

The Ministry of Defense said: “This visit will help strengthen military relations between Russia and North Korea and will be an important stage in the development of cooperation between the two countries.”

North Korean state newspaper KCNA also reported the upcoming “ceremonial visit” for the anniversary on July 27, which North Korea calls “Victory Day”.

Russia and China are longtime allies of Pyongyang.

In the fall of 1950, China sent a quarter of a million troops to the Korean Peninsula, supporting its North Korean ally and pushing forward the joint forces of South Korea, the United States and other countries under the command of the United Nations.

More than 180,000 Chinese soldiers have been killed in the Korean War, or what Beijing calls the war to resist US aggression and help Korea.

The Soviet Union also supported North Korea during the war and for decades Moscow was a staunch ally of North Korea, especially since the two countries shared a common animosity toward the West.

But Easley noted that South Korea is getting a much bigger show of international support for the armistice anniversary celebration, with representatives from 22 countries expected to attend.

The Chinese visit comes with celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the 1953 armistice that ended fighting on the Korean peninsula. Boiling center Tensions between North and South Korea and its ally the United States.

Pyongyang has repeatedly tested missiles banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions, and on several occasions the United States and South Korea have deployed military assets such as submarines and nuclear-capable bombers.

north korea It continued the pace of its missile tests late Monday, when it fired two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) from the Pyongyang area into waters off the peninsula’s east coast, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The missiles were launched around 11:55 p.m. local time, and flew for five minutes or 400 kilometers (248 miles) before plunging into the water, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Earlier Monday, the US Navy attack submarine USS Annapolis made a port call at Jeju Naval Base on the island off the southern coast of South Korea, according to South Korean Navy spokesman Jang Do-young.

Zhang said the submarine was stopping at the island to replenish military supplies while on an operational mission.

The Annapolis visit follows the even more provocative arrival of the nuclear-capable USS Kentucky ballistic missile submarine in the southern South Korean port of Pusan ​​last week.

North Korea said the visit to Pusan ​​of the “Boomer”, an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine that can carry up to 20 missiles and 80 nuclear warheads, crossed a “red line” and said such provocations could produce a violent response from Pyongyang.

“I remind the U.S. military of the fact that the ever-increasing visibility of the deployment of strategic nuclear submarine and other strategic assets may fall under the conditions for the use of nuclear weapons set forth in the DPRK’s Law on Nuclear Force Policy,” said a statement from North Korean Defense Minister Kang Soon Nam released by state media.

Relations were further complicated by the decision of a US soldier to cross the border between North and South Korea last week in the Demilitarized Zone separating the two countries.

Private Travis King, who was facing disciplinary action and was supposed to return to the US the day before his escape, is believed to be the first US soldier to cross into North Korea since 1982.

On Monday, the deputy commander of the United Nations Command, Gen. Andrew Harrison, said a “conversation has begun” with North Korea about King.

Two US officials told CNN that North Korea has admitted to receiving communications from the United Nations Command, the multinational military force that includes the United States that fought on the side of South Korea during the 1950-1953 Korean War.

But Pyongyang does not appear to be responding to Washington directly.

State Department spokesman Matt Miller said Monday that the State Department has not received a response to its letters to King. He also said he understood the US military had not received a response.

On the UNC side, Miller said he understood “there have been no new contacts since last week, contacts that occurred in the early days,” but that the North Korean government acknowledged receiving the message.

“I am not aware of any new contacts, other than those that occurred in the early hours, the first days after he crossed the border,” Miller said in a State Department briefing on Monday.

King has not been seen or heard from publicly since he crossed the border into North Korea last Tuesday, and North Korea has not said anything about the status or condition of the missing soldier.

Why he crossed the border into one of the most authoritarian places in the world – and a country with which the United States has no diplomatic relations – has remained a mystery until now.

Easley, a professor at Iowa Women’s University, said any quick response from Pyongyang on the king’s status is unlikely, especially in light of the armistice commemoration.

“North Korea is unlikely to become involved in the Travis King case until his interrogation and quarantine are complete, and after the Kim regime celebrates its so-called D-Day,” Easley said.