North Korea sent ‘warm congratulations’ to its Chinese ally on Friday, hours before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, a message that experts see as a likely signal for a halt to missile firing during the sporting event.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “warmly congratulated” Chinese President Xi Jinping for holding the Winter Olympics in Beijing, “despite the global health crisis and the circumstances of unprecedented gravity”, reports Friday the state news agency KCNA.
“The arrival of the Olympic flame in Beijing clearly proves that no difficulty or challenge can ever stop the Chinese people from moving forward,” said Kim Jong Un’s message, according to KCNA.
Pyongyang conducted an unprecedented series of 7 weapons tests in January, including the most powerful missile launch since 2017, while threatening to resume nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests.
This series of tests would have made Beijing “very uncomfortable”, estimated to AFP Cheong Seong-chang, of the Center of studies on North Korea of the Sejong Institute.
“But since Mr. Kim sent a congratulatory message to Xi Jinping today, China can now expect Pyongyang to refrain from weapons testing during the Olympics,” he said. -he adds.
It is “very unlikely” that Pyongyang will “bore” Beijing with shooting during the Olympics, said Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies.
“It is clear that China does not want military tension during the Games. In addition, the UN has urged all countries to observe a truce during the Olympics, which adds additional pressure,” he added.
North Korea was not allowed to participate in the Beijing Olympics after refusing to send a delegation to the Tokyo Summer Games in the summer of 2021 due to COVID-19.
Despite this exclusion, Pyongyang cited the pandemic and “hostile forces” to explain its absence.
In 2018, North Korea participated in the Winter Olympics which took place in South Korea.
Mr. Kim’s sister had attended the event and South Korean President Moon Jae-in had taken the opportunity to mediate between Pyongyang and Washington.
But negotiations between Kim Jong Un and then-US President Donald Trump broke down in 2019 and have since stalled.