Overview

• Russian media citing a Kremlin official said Kim will sit to Xi Jinping’s left and Vladimir Putin to Xi’s right at the Tiananmen Square parade.
• It will be Kim’s first appearance at a multilateral diplomatic event since he took power in 2011, according to Yonhap.
• Analysts say the joint appearance projects consolidated China–Russia–North Korea solidarity and could set the stage for a three-way summit.
• Reporting ties the move to expanded North Korea–Russia military cooperation, including accounts of troops and weapons supporting Moscow’s war in Ukraine, with state media showing Kim finalized a troop deployment decision on Aug. 28 last year.
• The plan surfaced days after a Washington meeting where South Korea’s president and the U.S. president voiced readiness to resume talks with Pyongyang, which observers see as unlikely to gain traction with Kim at this time.