North Korea increases diplomatic efforts with China, Russia, and Mongolia ahead of spring summits

The first page of the Apr. 15 issue of the Rodong Shinmun

“First Lady diplomacy” reported by KCNA as Ri Sol-ju meets with wives of foreign leaders

Pyongyang appears to be increasing its diplomatic efforts with friendly nations ahead of its summit with Seoul and Washington. Analysts see North Korea as attempting to firm up its own position and expand the playing field for dialogue by establishing even closer ties with friendly nations such as China, Russia, and Mongolia.

The Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the Workers’ Party of Korea, printed a front-page article and photograph on Apr. 15 on leader Kim Jong-un’s meeting the day before with Chinese Communist Party International Liaison Department director Song Tao, who was visiting North Korea with a group of Chinese artists. According to the piece, Kim “expressed satisfaction with the recent development of relations between the two parties and countries [North Korea and China], announcing plans to continue strengthening party relations with exchanges of high-level delegations between the two sides and actively promoting cooperation and associations among various areas and fields to actively carry on and develop the traditional friendly relations between North Korea and China to a new stage of development to meet new historical demands.”

The message was read as an expression of Pyongyang’s commitment to maintaining and developing relations with Beijing after their first steps toward recovery with a surprise China visit by Kim and North Korea-China summit last month.

In terms of the subject of Kim and Song’s meeting, the newspaper reported that “in-depth opinions were sincerely exchanged on the international situation and serious issues of common interest to the Workers’ Party and Chinese Communist Party.” The “serious issues of common interest” and “in-depth opinions on the international situation” reported by the newspaper are seen as very likely to include matters related to an inter-Korean summit scheduled for Apr. 27 and North Korea-US summit expected in May or early June.

“You get the sense that [North Korea] is trying to broaden the scope [of talks] because it feels overwhelmed negotiating one-on-one with the US at the upcoming summit,” said Institute for National Security Strategy senior research fellow Cho Sung-ryul.

“Because issues such as implementation and guarantees [on the outcome of agreements] become uncertain when it’s reaching agreements one-on-one with the US, it appears to be responding to the talks with Washington by bringing China into it and visiting Russia and countries and Europe to broaden the overall playing field,” Cho suggested.

Indeed, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho visited Russia on Apr. 9 and met with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Apr. 10 in Moscow. On Apr. 4, Foreign Ministry director general for European affairs Kim Son-gyong met with senior European Union (EU) officials in Brussels to exchange opinions on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and other issues. North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Apr. 14 that Supreme People’s Assembly Presidium president Kim Yong-nam had met and talked to a Mongolian People’s Party delegation visiting North Korea.

The second page of the Apr. 15 issue of the Rodong Shinmun

North Korean press reports also suggested efforts at “First Lady diplomacy,” with Kim’s wife Ri Sol-ju attending various external events. KCNA reported on Apr. 15 that Ri viewed a performance of the ballet “Giselle” the day before by Chinese dancers at Pyongyang’s Mansudae Art Theatre with officials from the Workers’ Party and North Korean government. It is seen as unusual for North Korean media to report separately on Ri’s attendance at a major event with party and government officials without Kim accompanying her.

“Ri Sol-ju is playing the role of First Lady in a normal state,” Cho Sung-ryul said, noting that Ri had “also had a separate conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s wife Peng Liyuan during the previous North Korea-China summit.”

“It looks like she is involved in ‘First Lady diplomacy,’ meeting with the wives of other countries’ leaders and attending separate events,” he said.

By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter

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