North Korea: "Kim Jong Un Arrives in Beijing, Welcomed by Wang Yi and Other Chinese Officials"

The Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim Jong Un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, arrived in Beijing on the afternoon of the 2nd to attend the 80th anniversary ceremony of China's Victory Day.

North Korea's Korean Central News Agency reported on the evening of the 2nd, "The Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea announced that Comrade Kim Jong Un arrived in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China, at 4 p.m. local time on September 2." Photos published by the agency on that day show that Chairman Kim's daughter Ju Ae also accompanied him. Yonhap News Agency

At Beijing Railway Station, key Chinese officials, including Cai Qi, Secretary of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China Central Committee (a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and fifth in official ranking), Wang Yi, Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission (also serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs), and Yin Yong, Party Secretary of Beijing, welcomed him.

Kim Jong Un met with the Chinese officials and said, "I am pleased to visit the People's Republic of China again after six years." He also expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome extended by President Xi Jinping, as well as the Party, the government, and the people of China.

It is unusual for North Korea to disclose the overseas itinerary of its supreme leader in real time. When Kim Jong Un departed from Pyongyang to visit Russia on September 10, 2023, the state media reported the trip two days later, on September 12.

Kim Jong Un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, arrived in Beijing, the capital of China, at 4 p.m. local time on the 2nd, according to the Korean Central News Agency. According to the photos released by the agency, Kim's daughter Ju Ae (red circle), Party Secretaries Jo Yong Won and Kim Tok Hun, and Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui accompanied him. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Although the article did not mention whether his wife Ri Sol Ju, his daughter Kim Ju Ae, or his younger sister Kim Yo Jong, Deputy Director of the Party, accompanied him, photos released by the agency captured his daughter Kim Ju Ae following behind him.

Kim Jong Un's visit to China is his first in six years and eight months since January 2019. At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, Kim is scheduled to attend the 80th anniversary Victory Day parade in Beijing on the 3rd, alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin and others.