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| ▲ This image, captured from Xinhua News Agency, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R, front) entering a banquet hall with Chinese President Xi Jinping (C) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (3rd from L) after a military parade in Beijing, China, on Sept. 3, 2025. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R), alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping (2nd from R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (2nd from L), attends a reception marking the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender and the end of World War II in Beijing on Sept. 3, 2025, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency the next day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap) |
NK leader-China
Kim joins lavish reception alongside Putin, Xi after military parade
By Kim Seung-yeon
SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un strode into a lavish reception in Beijing with Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping, hours after standing shoulder to shoulder with them at a military parade Wednesday, TV footage showed.
Kim was seen entering the banquet hall in the front row to Xi's left, just like he had stood side by side with Xi and Putin at Tiananmen Square viewing gallery during the muscle-flexing parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Kim's position suggests Beijing offered him the highest form of diplomatic protocol, as China brought Kim together with Putin and leaders of other friendly nations to the event in a show of force and unity against the United States and the West, in what observers describe as a new Cold War front.
Footage aired by Yonhap News TV and China's CCTV showed Kim being seated at the center of the main table to the left of China's first lady Peng Liyuan, who sat next to her husband.
South Korean Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, attending as the country's representative, was also seated at the head table, but far from where Kim was sitting.
The main table, horizontally stretched, was decorated with a model of the Great Wall and doves symbolizing peace. Roasted lamb, lobster and salmon were served with wine for the luncheon.
In the reception speech, Xi highlighted that "humanity must not return to the 'law of jungle,'" in an apparent jab at what China has called "U.S. unilateralism."
Xi then proposed a toast to the "great victory of the Chinese people's war of resistance against Japanese aggression and the anti-fascist war," and "to a bright future of lasting peace and shared prosperity for humanity."
As the guests stood at Xi's call, Kim raised his glass and toasted alongside Peng.
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