Xi's North Korea Trip Puts Kim Jong Un at the Center of the World

Chinese President Xi Jinping‘s visit to North Korea, just weeks after his back-to-back receptions of President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin underscores an emerging geopolitical position for Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un at a turbulent time for the world order.

Xi's visit gives Beijing a chance to reassert influence over Pyongyang as Kim benefits from closer ties with Moscow, a growing nuclear arsenal and stalled diplomacy with Washington.

The official purpose of the trip is more mundane. Xi is meeting Kim to commemorate the 65th anniversary of a treaty that to this day marks Beijing’s only formal defense pact.

However, the circumstances around the 1961 deal, which also long constituted Pyongyang’s only alliance, have shifted.

In June 2024, Kim exchanged security guarantees with Putin, whom he has aided directly in Russia‘s war with Ukraine, marking North Korea’s first major combat deployment since the 1950s war between Chinese and Soviet-backed North Korea-officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)-and South Korea-officially the Republic of Korea-aided by a U.S.-led United Nations coalition.

That Pyongyang-Moscow pact, accompanied with growing recognition of the significance of North Korea’s nuclear status, has also afforded Kim additional leverage in his meticulous balancing act among great powers, a strategy now on full display in his meeting with Xi.

“For the North Koreans, Xi Jinping’s visit is important because it demonstrates that a major world leader like Xi Jinping, who typically does not like to travel, is willing to visit Pyongyang,” Joseph Torigian, provost associate professor at American University’s School of International Studies, told Newsweek.

“Therefore, this kind of trip helps create the sense that the DPRK is not a pariah state and raises Kim’s stature,” Torigian said.

Leverage and Stability

The trip also marks an opportunity for China to emphasize its involvement in Korean Peninsula affairs as Kim drifts closer toward Russia and further away from a longstanding commitment to reunification with South Korea.

“China’s goal is to make sure that it does not lose all of its leverage even as North Korea expands its ties with the Russian Federation,” Torigian said. “The Chinese want to get a sense of what the North Koreans are thinking and don’t want Pyongyang to cause trouble in a way that further justifies closer ties among the U.S., Japan and South Korea.”

China is already grappling with the second-order effects of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, a conflict that has disrupted crucial oil and gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and inflated global energy prices since erupting in February. The war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year, has also tested Beijing’s “no limits” strategic partnership with Moscow.

North Korea, on the other hand, has managed to reap some gains from a chaotic international order.

“Right now, the North Koreans seem to be happy with how things are going. Kim was feted in Beijing last year at a major military parade, where he was pictured standing next to Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping,” Torigian said. “Since the Russians care so much more about the war in Ukraine than anything else, Kim has been able get a lot out of material benefits from the relationship with Moscow, and the growing Sino-DPRK relationship also means the Chinese need to work harder to not lose their leverage over North Korea.”

“The big question is whether the North Koreans are happy with their current favorable situation or whether at some point down the road they will return to a more risky strategy of missile and nuclear tests to further improve their capabilities and get America’s attention,” he added.

Shen Shiwei, analyst and founding chief editor of the China Briefing newsletter, who has visited both North Korea and South Korea on multiple occasions, identified regional stability as a guiding interest of Xi’s visit.

“At a time of growing uncertainty in the international order, Beijing sees stability on the Korean Peninsula as a vital regional public good,” Shen told Newsweek. “Any conflict or major disruption there would have far-reaching consequences for Northeast Asia and beyond.”

“Therefore, maintaining close communication with all relevant parties, including the DPRK, is an essential component of China’s diplomatic strategy,” Shen said. “The objective is clear: to prevent the Peninsula from sliding into confrontation, preserve peace and stability, and ensure that disputes are managed through diplomacy rather than conflict.”

The Nuclear Question

A more complex matter is that of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. Officially, China remains committed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, though in 2022 both Beijing and Moscow began vetoing U.S.-backed U.N. Security Council resolutions that would tighten sanctions against Pyongyang in connection with its nuclear program.

U.S. interventions have also hardened North Korea’s position. Iran, though possessing advanced enrichment capabilities, has never produced a nuclear weapon, whereas Pyongyang pressed forward with its nuclear ambitions, thus providing the country with a valuable shield against hostile actors.

Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, who serves as director of the General Affairs Department of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee, reaffirmed her country’s unwillingness to part with its nuclear prowess in a statement issued just ahead of Xi’s visit and in response to an earlier U.S. State Department call for North Korea’s denuclearization.

“The line of steadily beefing up the nuclear war deterrent for self-defense, clarified by the head of state of the DPRK, is an irreversible final conclusion to be carried out unconditionally,” Kim Yo Jong wrote. “It sends the world a clear signal that we will never compromise as regards the issue of national defense and sovereignty.”

“The DPRK's status as a nuclear weapons state is the line of no retreat,” she said, “and it is a stark reality whether anyone recognizes it or not.”

Shen, for his part, stated that Beijing’s position continued to advocate for “the denuclearization of the Peninsula in its entirety, meaning that neither side of the Peninsula should possess nuclear weapons and that no nuclear weapons should be developed, deployed, or introduced onto the Peninsula.”

At the same time, he described the issue as “highly complex,” being rooted in a long history of Pyongyang’s perceived insecurity, unfulfilled commitments established during past diplomatic frameworks and inconsistent policies across many U.S. administrations.

“This pattern has contributed to a persistent credibility gap in security assurances,” Shen said. “Pyongyang has repeatedly expressed skepticism that security guarantees offered during negotiations would be upheld in the long term. Developments in other international conflicts like U.S. war against Iran have further reinforced these concerns, strengthening the perception that abandoning nuclear capabilities does not necessarily guarantee lasting security or protection under a stable and binding framework.”

“As a result, regional dynamics have shifted toward managing risks rather than expecting rapid denuclearization,” Shen said. “Even South Korea today places significant emphasis on deterrence management and crisis prevention, reflecting the difficulty of achieving immediate denuclearization under current conditions.”

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Estimated Global Nuclear Warhead Inventories, 2026

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As for Trump, the only sitting U.S. leader to have met with a North Korean ruler during his first-term peace efforts, he has said relatively little about the issue in the face of more active foreign policy challenges on other fronts. When Trump has mentioned Kim Jong Un, such as during a press encounter aboard Air Force One last month, he has often referred to his “very good relationship” with the supreme leader, even claiming active contact between the two.

Trump has also spoken highly of his personal rapport with Xi, with their recent summit marked by a noticeable tone of U.S.-China cooperation. While official readouts did not specifically mention the Korean Peninsula, the region remains an area where Xi could play a role in mediating contacts between Washington and Pyongyang.

“The nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula is primarily an issue between the DPRK and the United States,” Shen said. “However, China, as a close neighbor with deep historical, economic, and security ties to the Peninsula, is indispensable to any lasting solution.”

“China has consistently advocated dialogue, mutual accommodation, and a political settlement that addresses the legitimate concerns of all parties,” he added. “In this context, China’s relationship with the DPRK provides an important channel for communication and crisis management, helping to prevent miscalculation and escalation while contributing to regional peace and stability.”

A New Era

Xi’s accelerated engagement on the world stage has already helped cement his nation’s superpower status.

“The Chinese leader over the past three weeks has clearly positioned himself in a role that in recent decades has more often been played by American presidents: that of the world's main powerbroker,” Allen Carlson, associate professor in Cornell University's Government Department, told Newsweek.

“There is a tradition in Chinese history of seeing China as the center of the world,” Carlson said. “It would be hyperbolic to contend we have entered a new era of Sinocentrism, but the trappings are now all there.”

The Xi-Kim summit will constitute yet another demonstration of this emerging reality, one in which Kim can potentially play a vital part.

“Via his nuclear arsenal and militaristic posturing, he can threaten South Korea and raise the specter of increased turbulence in East Asia and beyond. But he really has no other card to play,” Carlson said. “His North Korea is then in need of support, whether it comes from Moscow or Beijing is immaterial.”

“What he can give to the Russians in return is an outlet around international sanctions,” he added. “For China, he can nudge the Korean Peninsula toward stability (which Beijing wants to see) and burnish Xi's budding reputation as the emerging world order's leading man.”

Doing so, however, would entail successfully managing underlying differences that persist in their nations’ relationship, famously described by China’s first Communist leader, Mao Zedong, as being “as close as lips and teeth.”

“None of this is on the surface of the relationship, and is papered over in the language of defense agreements and joint statements, but such assurances (and ceremonial meetings) do not paper these issues over,” Carlson said. “They are also unlikely to be overcome in the course of Xi's upcoming visit to North Korea.”

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This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 4:00 AM.