North Korea is a mystery to nearly everyone even those who have dedicated their lives to studying the country, including Korean experts based in Seoul, national security experts in Washington or Beijing, and a variety of foreigners who have spent extended periods studying in or reporting from the North.
Beijing is ready to help North Korea tackle the spread of the coronavirus in the country, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Monday. China is ready to
North Korea’s trade with China totalled US$318 million in 2021, down by 41 per cent from the previous year and by 90 per cent from levels before the coronavirus.
On March 25, the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in Beijing in an armored train for talks with Chinese Communist Party Secretary Xi Jinping, the first known time he traveled outside his country since his father and predecessor died in December 2011. The visit was a bombshell: Relations between Beijing and Pyongyang had soured in recent years as the Chinese became more