Photo: Ajew / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in the Chinese border city of Dandong on Saturday, October 24, crossing over a bridge that opened only nine days ago, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said. It is his first trip to China in more than a year and his sixth since he took power in 2011.
A South Korean government source said Chinese Premier Li Qiang had travelled to Dandong, in Liaoning province, and greeted Kim on arrival. Neither Beijing nor Pyongyang had announced the trip through their state media by Saturday afternoon, and China’s foreign ministry did not immediately comment.
Timed for a war anniversary
The visit comes a day before October 25, the date both countries mark as the anniversary of Chinese troops entering the 1950-53 Korean War on the North’s side. This year is the 76th anniversary, and a South Korean official said the trip appeared to have been planned around it.
Earlier in the day, Japanese media reported tight traffic restrictions in parts of Dandong and said hotel rooms had become unavailable, signs that a senior North Korean figure was on the way. Officials have not yet said how long Kim will stay, where he will go next or whether he will meet President Xi Jinping. On each of his five earlier trips to China, he held a summit with Xi.
A bridge 12 years in the making
Kim used the New Yalu River Bridge, known in Korea as the New Amnok River Bridge. The four-lane crossing runs about 3 km between Dandong and Sinuiju in North Pyongan province. China paid about $310 million to build it and finished the structure in 2014, but it sat unused for more than a decade because the North did not finish the roads and customs posts on its side. It formally opened on October 15, and both sides hope it will revive trade through Dandong, the main gateway for commerce between them.
Why the visit matters
Kim’s appearance also ends a wave of social media rumours that he had died. South Korea’s spy agency had already told lawmakers that the claims were false, and North Korean state media recently showed him at a meeting of military commanders.
Diplomatically, the trip shows Pyongyang turning back towards Beijing, its traditional ally and economic lifeline. In recent years Kim had leaned heavily on Russia, sending thousands of troops and large amounts of weaponry to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Xi made a state visit to Pyongyang in June, offering wider cooperation in trade, agriculture, construction and technology, while Kim called ties with China a top strategic priority. Kim was last in China in September 2025, when he watched a military parade in Beijing alongside Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
What comes next
The visit also comes weeks before China hosts the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, which US President Donald Trump is expected to attend. Trump has said he wants to restart talks with North Korea before the end of the year. Any meeting between Kim and Xi in the coming days will be watched closely for signs of how Beijing plans to handle those talks.
