North Korea needs China for survival: Why does Beijing need Pyongyang?

Published 8 June 2026 · politics

China’s President Xi Jinping has arrived in Pyongyang on his first overseas trip this year as he aims to boost ties with North Korea, a

China’s President Xi Jinping has arrived in Pyongyang on his first overseas trip this year as he aims to boost ties with North Korea, a reclusive nuclear-armed nation opposed to US military expansion in the Asia Pacific region. During Xi’s two-day visit, “both sides will use the visit as an opportunity to promote greater development of China-North Korea relations in keeping with the times”, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning told a press briefing on Friday. The visit, Xi’s first in seven years, also comes at a time when North Korea has strengthened relations with Russia, its northern neighbour. North Korea’s ties to China go back to the Korean War more than 70 years ago. North and South Korea are technically still at war, as the conflict ended in an armistice in 1953. More than 28,000 US soldiers are still deployed in South Korea. So, what do China and North Korea’s relations look like? And why has China, the world’s second-largest economy, cultivated close ties with an isolated country like North Korea? Here’s what we know How close are China-North Korea ties? The two countries’ relations began after World War II, when China helped North Korea fend off South Korean forces backed by US and UN forces in the early 1950s. Between 200,000 and 400,000 Chinese soldiers were killed. In 1961, Beijing and Pyongyang signed the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance under which China is obliged to intervene militarily if North Korea is attacked. Despite close Beijing-Pyongyang ties, China improved economic relations with South Korea in the 1980s, according to a 2024 report by the Council on Foreign Relations, a US think tank. Moreover, China also repeatedly opposed North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, straining relations. China opposed North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006 and dubbed it a “flagrant and brazen” move, according to a 2017 report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP). In 2009, when the United Nations adopted sanctions against North Korea because of its nuclear programme, China’s ambassador to the UN at the time, Zhang Yesui, said Beijing was in favour of the sanctions resolution since Pyongyang’s actions were in “disregard for the international community’s common objective”, SCMP reported. In 2013 and 2016 as well, China condemned North Korea’s nuclear testing programmes. However, since 2018, Beijing has been trying to repair ties with Pyongyang, which also began improving its relations with Washington. In March 2018, Xi invited Kim to China for talks where they discussed the situation in the Korean Peninsula.

According to a March 2018 report by the Chinese state news agency Xinhua, President Xi said China was eager to safeguard the peninsula and sought to achieve its denuclearisation. Kim said he was “committed to denuclearisation” of the peninsula as well. Months later, United States President Donald Trump met Kim in Singapore, with a focus on denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. Xi travelled to Pyongyang for the first time in June 2019. Two years later, the two countries renewed their 1961 defence treaty for another 20 years. Last September, Kim visited China as a guest at its massive military parade. He travelled to the Chinese capital on his signature green armoured train. Analysts say China is cautious of the budding relationship between North Korea and Russia. North Korean soldiers have fought alongside Russia after Moscow and Pyongyang signed a mutual defence pact in the wake of the Ukraine war. Putin visited Pyongyang in 2024 after a gap of 24 years, aimed at boosting defence ties. Alejandro Reyes, adjunct professor in the department of politics and public administration at the University of Hong Kong, told Al Jazeera that one of the most significant geopolitical shifts of recent years has been the deepening Russia-North Korea relationship. “Kim Jong Un now has more room to manoeuvre internationally than he did a decade ago. Xi’s visit is partly a reminder that while Russia may be an increasingly important partner, China remains North Korea’s indispensable neighbour,” he said. “At the same time, it would be a mistake to overstate Beijing’s anxiety. Russia can expand North Korea’s options, but it cannot replace China’s geographic, economic and political importance,” he added. Russia and China have also come closer in the wake of Moscow’s war on Ukraine. How much does North Korea depend on China? North Korea is one of the world’s most isolated and poorest nations. According to an August 2025 report by the Bank of Korea, the South’s central bank, North Korea’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached $26.6bn in 2024, an increase of 3.7 percent from the previous year. South Korea, on the other hand, has made great strides in economic growth, emerging as a major tech and shipbuilding hub. Its GDP in 2024 stood at approximately $1.88 trillion. North Korea has largely been isolated from global trade due to UN sanctions over its nuclear programme. China “accounts for as much as 95 percent” of trade with North Korea, according to the Washington, DC-based think tank, the Committee on North Korea.