Chinese and Russian leaders sent congratulatory messages to Kim Jong Un to mark the 78th anniversary of North Korea’s founding.
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin sent separate messages pledging to strengthen strategic relations with Pyongyang.
Mr Xi said he was willing to “continue strengthening the strategic guidance” of China’s ties with North Korea and work with Mr Kim to advance the development of the two nations, the KCNA news agency reported.
He said strengthening and developing bilateral ties remained his government’s “consistent and unwavering policy.”
Mr Xi stressed that his June visit to Pyongyang had ushered in a new phase in relations. It was Mr Xi’s first visit to Pyongyang in seven years and his only foreign trip in 2026 so far.
Mr Putin said he would continue the “closest joint work” with Mr Kim to further strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two nations.
He said stronger Russia-North Korea ties would contribute to regional security and a “more just, multipolar world order”.
North Koreans dance during an evening gala to celebrate the 78th founding anniversary of their country (AFP/Getty)
The expanding ties between Russia, China and North Korea are creating a strategic alignment of three powers that increasingly share an interest in challenging US and Western influence, although they are not yet a formal military alliance.
Russia is rapidly deepening its military partnership with North Korea, including using the neighbour’s troops and weapons in its war in Ukraine, while China remains Pyongyang’s most important economic partner and is restoring high-level strategic ties with Mr Kim.
In a choreographed display of friendship, the two countries opened their first dedicated road bridge across the Tumen river on Monday. Flag-adorned trucks trundled across the 1km-long two-lane bridge as Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin and North Korean premier Pak Thae Song tuned in by video link to address the workers and government officials.
The opening ceremony of the first road bridge between Russia and North Korea across the Tumen river (Reuters)
Meanwhile, construction work on the long-stalled New Yalu river bridge with China was almost complete, a South Korean analytics firm said on Wednesday, suggesting imminent opening after roughly a decade of delays.
Structural work on a customs and immigration facility on the North Korean side of the 3km-long bridge could near completion this month, SI Analytics, which specialises in processes satellite images, added in a report.
“Utilising its signature ‘speed battle’ tactical campaign,” it noted, “North Korea has effectively executed in just four months a project that had been stalled for 12 years.”
Attendees applaud as North Korea and Russia open their first road bridge across the Tumen river (Reuters)
North Korea celebrated its founding anniversary as the UN’s nuclear agency said Pyongyang had built a new uranium enrichment facility at the Yongbyon nuclear complex that could house up to 28 centrifuge cascades.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said its report, based on satellite imagery and open-source information, pointed to a steady expansion of nuclear infrastructure at multiple locations across the Asian nation.
An evening gala to celebrate the 78th founding anniversary of North Korea (AFP/Getty)
It identified a new two-storey building at Yongbyon as a new uranium enrichment facility by comparing photographs from a June visit by Mr Kim with satellite images taken during its construction.
“The ongoing operation of enrichment facilities at Kangson and Yongbyon and the reported further expansion of DPRK’s production of weapons-grade nuclear material is a cause for serious concern,” IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said in a statement to the board of governors on Monday, referring to North Korea by its official name of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
