On Tuesday, September 24, Yong-beom Kang, China Fellow at the Sejong Institute, gave a presentation on “North Korea's Foreign Policy and Central Issues in North Korea-China Relations” at the 19th Sejong Institute 2024 Forum.

The panel discussion was moderated by Seong Chang Cheong, Director of the Center for Korean Peninsula Strategy.

North Korea's foreign policy has been strongly ideologically oriented, whether during the Cold War or the post-Cold War era, and Juche ideology and the politics of the Juche Party have played an important role in the formulation and implementation of North Korea's foreign policy.

North Korea-China relations are the core of North Korea's foreign policy and its most important bilateral relationship. During the Cold War, North Korea and China were perceived as a special relationship of blood feuds or “unbreakable bonds.” However, after the Cold War, the bilateral relationship has been repeatedly estranged and restored, and is now considered to be changing into a normal state-to-state relationship.

North Korea's nuclear program is the only area of disagreement between China and North Korea, and the obstacle that most affects the development of stable friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries. China strongly opposes North Korea's nuclear weapons development policy and behavior, and has been constantly persuading and working to denuclearize North Korea.

China's North Korea policy has been in the spotlight as North Korea and Russia have been rapidly moving closer in the wake of the war in Ukraine and the “North Korea-China relationship anomaly” has emerged. In particular, the U.S. and China have already entered a “new Cold War,” which has destabilized inter-Korean, South Korea-Russia, and China-ROK relations. Under these circumstances, China's future policy toward North Korea and its stance on the North Korean nuclear issue are being called for certain changes. 

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)​