North Korea’s Choe Ryong Hae, a Korean
Workers’ Party secretary , is scheduled to visit Beijing on September 3rd to
attend 70th anniversary celebrations of the end of World War II.
Choe numbered among a list of other dignitaries
slated to attend the event, announced by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang
Ming in a press conference today.
Prior to this official confirmation, there
was speculation that Kim Yong Nam, president of North Korea’s Presidium of the
Supreme People’s Assembly, would attend the upcoming celebrations given that he
appeared at similar festivities in Russia this past May.
A number of experts believe that North
Korea’s upcoming visit to China directly correlates to recent tensions on the
Korean Peninsula, stemming from a landmine blast–which South Korea asserts
North Korea planted on the southern side of the DMZ–injuring two South Korean soldiers.
Kim Jong Un is thought to be sending Choe to convey North Korea’s stance on the
situation and restore bilateral ties between China and North Korea.
Lee Tae Hwan, the head of Chinese research
center at Sejong Institute told Daily NK, “China was sensitive enough to
the inter-Korean tension to move its troops to the Sino-North Korean border.
This lends weight to the probability that China wants to hear what North Korea
has to say about the fractious situation on the Korean Peninsula over the past
week.”
He added, “Choe Ryong Hae already visited
Beijing in May 2013 to meet China’s President Xi Jinping. It stands to reason
that this established connection is one of the main reasons he was appointed to
go to China again this September.”
