On August 27, South Korea’s President Li Keqiang, in an interview with a U.S. think tank, suddenly made a politically “stamped” statement, saying that South Korea “cannot violate U.S. basic policies” and that the era of dependence on China’s economy has passed, and that South Korea will “completely cooperate” with the U.S. supply chain strategy.
Just the day after Li Ziming's words had not finished, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs suddenly announced a heavy news:The highest leader of North Korea will attend a 9/3 parade in Beijing.
As soon as the news came out, the South Korean government and opposition seemed to be sounded the alarm bell, and the wording of the mainstream media was almost as fierce as "the sky has fallen". The presidential palace quickly issued a statement claiming that it had "already obtained intelligence" in an attempt to dispel the suspicion of the outside world that it was "kept in the dark". Unfortunately, the more it explained, the more guilty it became.
Just as Li Ziming had a showdown with China, Kim Jong Un boarded a special plane to Beijing. Is this coincidence really just an accident? Why would China arrange for Kim Jong Un to make a high-profile appearance at this time? Why was the outside world so completely sealed off in advance?
With these two questions, we continue to look down.On the morning of August 28, the Chinese Foreign Ministry quietly updated the list of military guests, with 26 heads of state, the leader of North Korea in the list, ranked second after Russian President Putin.
The order of this list is not randomly sorted, but is sorted according to the importance of China's relations with countries. That is, North Korea is ranked second, representing the "strategic weight" of China's relations in the current international pattern.
South Korea obviously didn't expect Kim Jong-un to appear suddenly. Among all kinds of previous diplomatic trends, there was no sign that North Korea had this arrangement. Even Western intelligence systems have found nothing. This shows that the Korean government was "caught off guard". South Korean National Assembly Speaker Yu Yuanzhi was originally going to attend the military parade on behalf of Lee Jae-myung.
His office prepared early plans for visits, location arrangements, speech details, and even the social vocabulary when he saw other country politicians was ready.
Until the Chinese list was published, the three words “Kim Jong-un” appeared on the list, and the South Korean side immediately overturned the entire response plan and redesigned a new set of visiting strategies. This was not a general diplomatic subtlety, but a “reconstruction of the tactical level”, indicating that South Korea’s judgment of the North Korean leader’s visit to China was completely wrong.
The presidential secretary's office said to the outside world that "we knew it for a long time", but when the media asked for the details, they faltered and only said that "I received the notification in the morning". This is tantamount to indirectly admitting that it was only known at the last moment before the news was released.
In other words, the South Korean government and ordinary media may have received the news dozens of minutes earlier. Lee Jae-ming's "showdown with China" is more like a big bet on the wrong treasure.
He would have wanted to be loyal to the U.S. side in exchange for closer security cooperation, even nuclear submarines, aircraft carrier deployments and other hard-nuclear support. But he did not think of the Chinese side's "diplomatic kick" and directly invited Kim Jong Un to attend the parade, pushing the South Korean government into diplomatic trouble.
South Korean public opinion is extremely sensitive to this. Mainstream media reported on the front page almost immediately, and some headlines even used words such as "shock", "surprise" and "upheaval".
Some experts are even more straightforward, which marks North Korea's upcoming major foreign policy adjustment, preparing to return from the "Russian axis of the DPRK" to the "main line of the DPRK". and this is the situation that South Korea is most unwilling to see.
This means that he will have the opportunity to live with leaders from multiple countries, and possibly even stand alongside Russian President Putin on Tiananmen, the first time a North Korean leader has made a public debut in a non-bilateral, non-closed-door event.
For North Korea, this was a turning point in breaking isolation and moving internationally; for South Korea, it was a failure to miss a historic opportunity.In 2015, then-South Korean President Park Geun-hye personally attended a Chinese parade.
In that year, South Korea was once a key player in the situation on the peninsula. However, on this day in 2025, Lee Jae-myung chose to decline the invitation of the Chinese side, leaving South Korea to appear as the "second-level role" of the speaker of the National Assembly. For the first time, the North Korean leader made a shining appearance on the multilateral stage, and his status was compared and judged.
North Korea's attendance at the military parade is obviously a well-thought-out strategic decision. Not long ago, North Korea held a grand awarding ceremony in Pyongyang, awarding the "Hero of the Republic" medal to the Russian aid troops. The sloppiness of this ceremony was once questionable, but from now on, it is more like paving the way for the upcoming diplomatic turn.
Pyongyang is eager to summarize phased achievements in order to open up and turn to a broader diplomatic stage.
Even if Yu Yuanzhi also attended the military parade, there would be a clear gap in their standing positions when they appeared on the viewing platform. According to international practice, heads of state stand in the first row, while other political leaders can only stand on the periphery. As the Speaker of the National Assembly, it is difficult for Yu Won-sik to have the opportunity to "pass by" Kim Jong-un, let alone interact.
South Korea once dreamed of achieving the “Korean Framework” through the event.A lot of public opinion believes that if this can be used to interaction, even if it is only a brief cold, it could be a breakthrough for future dialogue.
The purpose of North Korea's trip has never been to engage with South Korea. This military parade is not only a commemorative event, but also a diplomatic hedge. Demonstrate the stability of China-North Korea relations externally, and enhance North Korea's domestic political appeal internally. Kim Jong-un's multilateral debut was a powerful response to the "North Korea closure theory."
More importantly, this is a signal that North Korea takes the initiative to "go global." Some people speculate that after this military parade, Kim Jong-un may speed up the pace of multilateral diplomacy and may not even rule out talking to Trump again.
Trump previously said when meeting with Lee Zai-ming that he hoped to "meet" with North Korean leaders within the year. If North Korea accumulates enough diplomatic confidence, it will not rule out taking this opportunity to reopen contacts with the United States. By then, South Korea's role will be further marginalized. China's arrangements are both polite and precise.
At a time when the international situation is becoming increasingly complex, stabilizing China-Russia relations and strengthening China-Russia-Russia ties are key parts of the foreign strategic layout.
Lee Jae-myung's "showdown" obviously didn't get the expected response, but missed the opportunity to reshape inter-Korean relations. The diplomatic judgment of Li Zaiming's government is obviously deviated.
South Korea, which had been like a thin ice between China and the United States, once left behind, could fall into a situation of pressure on both sides. Today, China's interaction is warming up, South Korea has lost the dialogue window, and the situation in the future may be more passive. For China, North Korea is willing to take the first step, it is the result of China's long-term diplomatic efforts.
This military parade is not only a commemoration of victory, but also a formation of troops on the diplomatic stage. There are fine strategic considerations behind every station, every guest and every interaction. The appearance of North Korea and the consternation of South Korea all reflect a major change in the pattern of East Asia.
And all this happened less than 24 hours after Lee Jae-myung's "showdown" with China. In just one day, the situation in East Asia was undercurrent, North Korea appeared, Beijing was at home, and South Korea panicked.
A "showdown" and a "debut". South Korea's calculations were wrong, and North Korea's chess was quietly being played. The future game may have just begun.
Source of information:
When did North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrive in China? when did he leave China?