Kim Jong Un hosts Xi Jinping from a position of rare strength

AsiaKim Jong Un hosts Xi Jinping from a position of rare strengthThe North Korean leader gave the Chinese president a grand welcome Monday to a country that has come a long way since his last visit seven years ago.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before a military parade in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in September.Alexander Kazakov / AFP via Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJune 8, 2026, 9:30 AM EDTBy Stella Kim and Mithil AggarwalSEOUL, South Korea — Kim Jong Un offered China’s president a grand welcome Monday. But the North Korean leader is playing host from a position of rare strength, and his country has come a long way since Xi Jinping’s last visit seven years ago.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Kim’s backing of Russia’s war with Ukraine has paid dividends, his weapons program has cemented North Korea’s status as a de facto nuclear state, and an economy that buckled under the pressure of pandemic isolation and sanctions has since rebounded.Kim was joined by his wife, Ri Sol Ju, as Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, stepped off their plane in Pyongyang, North Korea. The national flags of North Korea and China are displayed on a street in Pyongyang on Monday.Kim Won Jin / AFP via Getty ImagesTheir motorcade then weaved through streets lined with Chinese and North Korean flags to Pyongyang’s main square, where Kim threw a grand welcome ceremony — a 21-gun salute, a military band, and children waving flags and balloons, according to official videos released by Xinhua.Beyond the pomp and pageantry being lavished on Xi, the North Korean leader is displaying a confidence that his nuclear-armed regime has rarely been able to show in dealing with China — Pyongyang’s longtime economic lifeline and main diplomatic backer. “The key is that Kim Jong Un can receive Xi Jinping from a position of strength. Otherwise, the N...