North Korea needs China for survival: Why does Beijing need Pyongyang?
Summary
China’s President Xi Jinping visited North Korea to strengthen relations between the two countries. North Korea has close historical ties with China but has also developed new defense ties with Russia amid regional tensions involving the US.Key Facts
- President Xi’s visit to Pyongyang is his first overseas trip in 2024 and first visit to North Korea in seven years.
- China and North Korea have a Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance dating back to 1961.
- China fought alongside North Korea during the Korean War in the early 1950s, with large Chinese military losses.
- China has opposed North Korea’s nuclear tests and supported UN sanctions against North Korea’s nuclear program.
- Relations improved starting in 2018 with talks between Xi Jinping and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un aiming for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
- North Korea renewed its defense treaty with China in 2021 for another 20 years.
- North Korea has also signed a mutual defense pact with Russia, and Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Pyongyang in 2024.
- Over 28,000 US soldiers remain stationed in South Korea, where the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
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