North Korean leader Kim Jong Un crossed the border into China on his special train early on Tuesday to attend China’s celebration of the formal surrender of Japan in World War Two, North Korean state media said on Tuesday.
Kim left Pyongyang for China on Monday and crossed into China early Tuesday morning, North Korea’s state newspaper Rodong Sinmun said on Tuesday.
Kim is expected to attend the military parade in Beijing on Wednesday, joining Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Rodong Sinmun showed pictures of Kim with his entourage, such as Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, standing next to and smiling while seated at a desk inside the dark green train, which appeared to be similar to the bulletproof train he has used before to travel to other countries.
Before crossing into China, Kim on Monday visited a missile laboratory that is researching carbon fibre composite materials to be used in engines for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), state media KCNA said.
“Maximum propulsion of the new solid-type engine using carbon fibre composites is 1,960 kN, planned to be used in the intercontinental ballistic missile ‘Hwasong-19’ series and the next-generation … ‘Hwasong-20’,” KCNA said on Tuesday.
North Korea on Monday expressed support for remarks made by Xi at a summit calling for fairer global governance, adding that cooperation between North Korea and China will grow to pursue such a value, according to a vice foreign minister in comments posted on the North Korean foreign ministry’s website.
Xi on Monday pressed his vision for a new global security and economic order that prioritises the “Global South”, in a direct challenge to the United States, during a summit that included the leaders of Russia and India.
(Reporting by Ju-min Park and Joyce Lee; )
