This week, the People’s Republic of China will send a delegation to North Korea.
On Saturday, Vice Premier Liu Guozhong is leading an envoy delegation to North Korea to celebrate the founding anniversary of the hermit Kingdom.
On Thursday, the North Korean state news agency Korean Central News Agency announced that an international meeting would be held.
North Korea will mark its 75th birthday on Saturday by holding a military parade sanctioned by the state.
The Chinese delegation was announced only days after North Korea claimed that dictator Kim Jong Un planned to travel to Moscow and meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The New York Times reported on Monday that Kim will meet Putin at the Eastern Economic Forum, which is being held at Far Eastern Federal University (Vladivostok), Russia. The forum is scheduled for Sept. 10-13. It encourages foreign investment in Russia’s Far East.
Putin wants North Korea’s antitank and artillery missiles. The New York Times reported that Kim wanted Russia to provide advanced technology for nuclear submarines and satellites in exchange. Kim also wants food aid to feed his starving country.
During a briefing for the press, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan warned of retaliation if two world leaders struck a deal on weapons.
Sullivan stated that “this is not going reflect well on North Korea, and they will have to pay a heavy price in the international community.” “We will continue calling on North Korea not to provide weapons to Russia which will kill Ukrainians.”
The White House said in a statement that it expects “leadership-level engagement” from Russia on any potential arms deal.
“We urge the D.P.R.K. to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia,” an NSC spokeswoman told the Times.
U.S. Intelligence reports that Russian officials recently visited North Korea and likely established communication for high-level discussions regarding the provisioning of weapons.
