North Korea, after years of pandemic separation, has welcomed its old friends this week. Senior Chinese and Russian delegations are attending the 70th anniversary celebrations of the Korean War, and the struggle to defeat the United States.

Visitors, including Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, and Chinese Communist Party Politburo Member Li Hongzhong are expected to witness one of North Korea’s most iconic events: A massive military parade that showcases its latest weapons.

Analysts predict that the North will display its nuclear-tipped missiles, which are banned by the United Nations Security Council. Both Russia and China have permanent membership.

These visits represent the first foreign delegations known to have visited North Korea since COVID-19 began. They also come at a time when Pyongyang is looking to strengthen its ties to Beijing and Moscow and find common ground with Washington and other Western countries.

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Pyongyang can use the holiday on Thursday to celebrate what it considers a victory against U.S. led allied forces during the 1950-1953 Korean War.

North Korea remains technically at war after the fighting ended with an armistice rather than a formal treaty of peace.

“North Korea’s invitation of delegations from China and Russia seems to be a case where history rhymes, as Pyongyang prepares to stand against the West but also perceives the necessity to maintain relatively equal ties with China and Russia,” Anthony Rinna said, a specialist on Korea-Russian relations at Sino-NK.com, a website which analyses the region.

Rinna explained that only time will tell whether the visits are a sign of a wider easing of North Korea’s travel bans, which in theory could provide an opportunity for U.S. government officials to negotiate with North Korean officials the release Travis King, the U.S. soldier who entered North Korea last Thursday.

He added that it is unlikely Pyongyang would seek to engage Washington anytime soon and might consider itself in a full scale New Cold War with America.

North Korea prepares military parade

Satellite images show that North Koreans are preparing for a military parade on the 27th of July to commemorate the 70th anniversary since the end of the Korean War. Senior officials from China, Russia and other countries have flown to the event. It may include North Korea’s newest ballistic missiles.

MILITARY DISPLAYS

Images released by the Russian defence ministry and North Korean press showed Shoigu at the airport being welcomed by North Korean Defence Minister Kang Sun Nam, Russian Ambassador Alexander Matsegora and rows of North Korean troops.

North Korea has been accused by the United States of providing weapons to Russia in the conflict in Ukraine. This includes a delivery of infantry missiles and rockets to the Kremlin’s Wagner mercenary force in November 2022.

Pyongyang has denied these claims and so has Moscow, but Kim is vowing to strengthen strategic cooperation between nations.

Yang Moo Jin, a professor from the University of North Korean Studies, Seoul, believes that there could be as many as 15 000 people in Pyongyang’s military parade, as well as new designs of weapons capable of delivering nuclear energy.

In recent weeks, commercial satellite imagery showed participants practicing in the downtown Kim Il Sung Square, where the event is scheduled to take place. They were seen with large formations displaying the number “70”, as well as other slogans. Dave Schmerler said this was a researcher from the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

Schmerler said that at a training area outside Pyongyang military units were seen practicing marching on a square track, with vehicles following behind. The images were provided by the U.S. based company Umbra which used radar satellites to see through cloud cover.

‘SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY’

State media KCNA reported Wednesday that Kim Jong Un began commemorations by visiting a cemetery of Chinese soldiers who fought during the war known as Fatherland Liberation War. China and North Korea only have a defence treaty with each other.

Kim visited the Fatherland Liberation War Martyrs Cemetery in Seoul on Monday. KCNA reported that he praised his soldiers for “inflicting a defeat” on U.S. Imperialism.

China is now North Korea’s biggest trading partner, despite international sanctions imposed by both Moscow and Beijing over North Korea’s missile and nuke programmes. China’s exports were eight times more than the year before to its secretive neighbor.

Beijing said on Monday it implements U.N. Sanctions against North Korea “strictly”.

Russia and China has rebuffed recent efforts by the United States of America and some European countries impose new sanctions against North Korea.

Instead, they have pushed to ease existing measures for humanitarian reasons and to encourage Pyongyang to return to the denuclearisation negotiations that broke down in 2019.

Yang said that the delegations may signal that diplomatic visits, which had been stalled for years, could resume.

He said that if North Korea sends a delegation of high level to China in the near future for the Hangzhou Asian Games it would mean the return of high-level “shuttle diplomacy” between North Korea, and China after the COVID-19 Pandemic.