OMM Newsroom
China has said it expects to build deeper and more practical relations with North Korea, in what is seen as another sign of warming ties between the neighboring countries.
AnewZ, citing China’s state news agency Xinhua, reported that Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remarks on Thursday, November 5, during a meeting in Beijing with a delegation from North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party.
The delegation was led by Kim Song Nam, director of the party’s international relations department, which is responsible for ties between the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Communist Party of China.
Contacts between Beijing and Pyongyang intensify
The meeting came amid regular contacts between the two countries over the past several months. Wang visited Pyongyang in April, his first trip to North Korea in seven years, and held talks with his counterpart, Choe Son Hui. In June, Chinese President Xi Jinping made a state visit to North Korea.
Last month, Xi sent a letter to Kim Jong Un, saying China was ready to carry forward the traditional friendship between the two countries, strengthen mutual political trust, expand practical cooperation and maintain close contacts.
Kim Jong Un also made an unexpected visit to the border city of Dandong last month, entering China via the newly opened New Yalu River Bridge.
A Chinese expert on bilateral relations said the bridge had removed a major obstacle to trade logistics. The visit, the expert said, indicated that both sides were renewing efforts to strengthen economic ties. China shares a land border with North Korea and has long been the country’s largest trading partner.
Restoring ties and the APEC summit
The momentum of recent months contrasts with the situation several years ago. Tensions emerged in relations between the two countries in 2024, as North Korea deepened its ties with Russia. But after Kim Jong Un attended China’s Victory Day military parade in 2025, the two sides sought to restore their longstanding relationship.
Both countries are now describing their relations in positive terms. Beijing is placing particular emphasis on practical cooperation and regular high-level contacts.
China will host the APEC summit in Shenzhen on the 18th and 19th of this month. U.S. President Donald Trump has said a meeting with Kim Jong Un is possible.
Whether or not such a meeting takes place, Beijing’s message this week is that ties with Pyongyang are steadily advancing, with contacts continuing at the party, government and leaders’ levels.
