SEOUL: China’s vice foreign minister was in Pyongyang on Friday for a meeting with North Korean Foreign Minister. Russia and China are North Korea’s traditional allies, and the US warned last year that military relations between Moscow and Pyongyang were “growing and dangerous”. Washington has also called on Beijing to restrain North Korea, AFP reported.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Friday that the Foreign Ministry delegation of the China, headed by Sun Weidong, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, has arrived in Pyongyang on the 25th January.
AFP showed Weidong and his delegation meeting with North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong Ho and others in Pyongyang.
N Korea, China Vice FMs Meet in Pyongyang
Sun’s trip comes as US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was set to hold meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday and Saturday in Thailand, as the two sides seek to improve ties after years of tensions.
Earlier in January, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stated Beijing and Pyongyang had designated 2024 as the “year of friendship,” using the acronym of the North’s official name.
ALSO READ: Putin Willing to Visit N Korea Soon, Pyongyang Says
KCNA reported that the two sides “will further promote exchange and trips in all fields, including economy, politics, and culture” this year, and add “a new page to the history of the N Korea-China ties,” Kim said in his message to China’s President Xi Jinping,
Earlier, Kim had declared South Korea his nation’s “principal enemy”, jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and threatened war over “even 0.001 mm” of territorial infringement, AFP reported.
While Japan, South Korea and the US have also held joint military exercises against the increasing North Korean threats, China last year sent senior officials to attend N Korea’s military parades.
As permanent members of the UNSC, both Russia and China have been obstructing the efforts led by the US to impose stricter sanctions on N Korea in response to its increased arms testing activities in recent months.
Kim successfully put a spy satellite into orbit last year, following receiving what South Korea said was Russian help, in exchange for arms transfers for Ukraine’s war.
![NEW YORK: Pakistan's former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, leading Pakistan’s high-level parliamentary delegation, on Tuesday warned that India's aggressive actions pose a serious threat to peace in South Asia and urged the international community to take note of India's aggressive conduct. Bilawal was addressing a press conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York on recent regional developments after the military conflict between India and Pakistan. The Pakistani delegation is in New York to present Pakistan’s stance on the military escalation with India and to challenge New Delhi’s narrative at the global level. The visit is part of Pakistan’s sustained diplomatic outreach to brief key UN stakeholders on the alarming regional situation. The Pakistani delegation is also scheduled to arrive in Washington today, where it plans to engage with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, other senior officials, lawmakers, and think tanks till June 6. The team will also visit London and Brussels. Speaking at the press conference, Bilawal said that he wanted to use the opportunity to share Pakistan’s perspective on the recent military conflict with India in the wake of the Pahalgam attack and the way forward. Bilawal said that the “illegal strikes” launched by India as part of its ‘Operation Sindoor’ were “in violation of the UN Charter, international law”. He said the attacks had targeted civilian infrastructure, places of worship, energy infrastructure and innocent women and children. He said India had used the April 22 terrorist attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s (IIOJK) Pahalgam as a pretext to launch the attack inside Pakistan. Following the Pahalgam incident, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered publicly to India that Pakistan was ready to be part of any impartial international investigation into this attack. “We did so because we were confident, our hands were clean and we had nothing to do with this terrorist attack. “We expressed our sympathy with the victims of terrorism and Pakistan has consistently and unequivocally condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” he said, adding that PM Sharif had immediately expressed Pakistan’s willingness to India and the global community to be part of any impartial international investigation. “Indian government refused Pakistan's offer and chose instead to conduct their illegal strikes. Pakistan only then acted in self-defence, we never initiated any violence against India,” Bilawal said. Bilawal emphasised that Pakistan never initiated hostilities against India but responded to Indian aggression by downing six Indian fighter jets. "The Pakistani military had responded with precision the night of the first Indian attack and only targeted and downed six planes because we believed those were the ones to release their load on Pakistan”. He stated that US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio played a vital role in achieving a ceasefire during heightened tensions between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours. “We’ve seen during the course of this conflict how quickly the escalation ladder between our two countries rose and the concern is that the next time there is such an incident, there may not be time for the international community to intervene before things get a lot worse. That is why it is absolutely important for Pakistan and the international community to continue to pursue dialogue and diplomacy as the only viable path to peace.” He said Pakistan’s position was to hold a “comprehensive dialogue” with India that would include the issue of terrorism as well. The head of the Pakistani delegation said that no civilized nation can support the use of water as a weapon and urged the international community to play its part, questioning, "What would be the global reaction if someone’s lifeline was cut off?" He stressed that Pakistan has paid a heavy price in the fight against terrorism and has suffered the most. “The single largest number of terrorist attacks that take place in any one country is Pakistan. The single largest number of victims of terrorism is Pakistan. I myself have suffered at the hands of terrorists. My mother [Benazir Bhutto] was assassinated by the terrorists.” Bilawal also criticised India for targeting water reservoirs and civilian areas, including mosques, during its attacks. Calling negotiations the only path to peace, Bilawal reiterated that the unresolved Kashmir dispute remains the root cause of regional instability. He urged the global community to take notice of India’s aggressive conduct.](https://wenewsenglish.com/storage/2025/06/Bilawal-Bhutto-Zardari-300x180.jpg)
