Episode
Unbreakable Kim? China's Xi visits Russia-backed North Korean leader
- Podcast
- The Debate
- Published
- Jun 9, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2629
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Summary
It takes convincing these days to get China's leader to go abroad. Xi Jinping has just wrapped up what was only his first foreign visit of 2026. Why Pyongyang? It's hard to deduce from official readouts of that two-day state visit to neighbouring North Korea. Was it politeness after a pair of visits by Kim Jong Un to Beijing? Celebrations of the 65th anniversary of their mutual defence pact? Or is it those ever closer ties between North Korea and Russia ? Moscow's help in exchange for support in the war against Ukraine has been followed up by North Korea's boast of plans to "exponentially" ramp up its nuclear arsenal. We ask about what was unsaid during Xi 's visit to Pyongyang and whether those claims of a construction boom and growth inside one of the world's most reclusive states are true. For instance, is North Korea serious when it talks of developing a tourist industry? And if that growth is for real, how's China taking the news? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.