North Korea Keeps China at Arm's Length Even as Ties With Russia Deepen

North Korea appears to be carefully calibrating how warmly it speaks about China even as the two countries move closer together on regional security matters, according to a new analysis published by the Stimson Center's 38 North program. The report, written by analyst Rachel Minyoung Lee, examines a wide-ranging statement issued on August 19 by Kim Yo Jong, sister of leader Kim Jong Un and a senior Workers' Party official, which touched on North Korea's views of the United States, Russia and, indirectly, China.

According to the analysis, Kim Yo Jong's statement was notable less for what it said about Washington than for the striking difference in tone between her references to Russia and to China. She offered unambiguous backing for Moscow's war in Ukraine and reaffirmed that Pyongyang remains, in her words, "boundlessly faithful" to the countries' bilateral treaty. By contrast, although her broader positions largely echoed Beijing's stance on regional security, including sharp criticism of Japan's military buildup, she stopped short of naming China or expressing solidarity with it directly.

The omission is considered significant because North Korea has previously shown it is willing to explicitly back Chinese positions when it chooses to. Kim Jong Un endorsed Beijing's stance on Taiwan during a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in June, the report notes, making the absence of any parallel gesture in August's statement more conspicuous. The timing was also notable: Kim Yo Jong's remarks came as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was visiting Seoul for talks that touched on Korean Peninsula security, though the analysis cautions that the significance of the coincidence is unclear.

The report situates this episode within a broader pattern stretching back several months. North Korean state media gave muted coverage to the 65th anniversary of the countries' friendship treaty in July, notably dropping the phrase "blood-forged friendship" long used to describe the relationship. When Kim Jong Un met a senior Chinese delegation around the same time, he reportedly offered none of the explicit support for Chinese positions that had characterized his engagements with Wang Yi in April and Xi Jinping in June.

A visit by Kim to a cemetery for Chinese soldiers who died fighting in the Korean War in late July was similarly restrained compared with past commemorations in 2018 and 2023, when state media carried extensive remarks from Kim linking the historical sacrifice to the strength of current ties. That contrasts sharply with how North Korean media described Kim's visit to a Liberation Tower monument in August, where he spoke warmly of shared history and "ties of blood" with Russia and pledged that the two nations' friendship would be carried forward for generations.

The analysis concludes that growing policy overlap between Pyongyang and Beijing on issues such as Japan's security posture has not translated into a warmer public relationship, suggesting North Korea is deliberately keeping its ties with China and Russia on different footing. How long this gap between quiet alignment and public reticence persists, the report suggests, will be an important indicator of how far the recent improvement in North Korea-China relations can ultimately go.