On the 28th, the Chinese Foreign Ministry officially announced the appointment of Chinese Ambassador to North Korea Wang Yajun to Pyongyang, saying, “We believe that Ambassador Wang will play an important role in promoting traditional friendly and cooperative relations.”
According to the Global Times, the English version of China’s state-run Global Times, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Maoning said at a regular briefing that day, China and North Korea are friendly neighbors connected by mountains and rivers, and in recent years, under the strategic direction of the top leaders of both countries and both parties, China-North Korea Relations between the two countries have entered a new historical period and are moving forward, he said.
It is the first time North Korea has accepted a foreign diplomat since January 2020, when it closed its borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ambassador Wang was nominated as ambassador to North Korea in February 2021. In December of the same year, North Korean state media reported that former ambassador Li Jinjun was stepping down after serving six years and nine months, but Ambassador Wang was unable to take office due to the spread of Corona 19.
On the 27th (local time), Wang Yajun, the Chinese ambassador to North Korea, headed from Dandong, Liaoning Province, China, to Sinuiju, North Korea (Screen capture from NHK, Japan) 2023.3.27 Meanwhile, the US Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier ‘Nimitz’ (CVN-68) arrived at the Busan operating base on the morning of Ambassador Wang’s arrival in China from the southern part of Jeju Island for the ROK-US combined maritime training, and North Korea launched a ballistic missile into the East Sea.
In this regard, the media pointed out, “The increase in military operational action (the United States) not only brings no benefit to the Korean Peninsula, but only encourages North Korea to take correspondingly strong countermeasures.”
Dazigang, director of the Northeast Asian Institute of the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, also said in an interview with the Global Times, “Sending an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to the Korean Peninsula only escalates regional tension.” It suggests that it can be explored,” he said.
Previously, at a UN Security Council briefing on the Korean Peninsula issue on the 20th, Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Geng Shuang mentioned the unprecedented large-scale joint military exercises on the Korean Peninsula and surrounding areas, including the US, and plans to expand the deployment of strategic weapons. The confrontation with the North is escalating, and China is concerned about it,” he said.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.