North Korea’s Kim crosses into China to meet Xi, Putin for Beijing military parade

LONDON — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un crossed the China-North Korea border by train on Tuesday, the country’s state news agency reported, heading to Beijing where he will attend a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II.

Kim will join Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Chinese capital on Wednesday, the other two leaders having come from a Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Tianjin, where Xi hosted world leaders including Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kim is accompanied by a delegation including Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

Kim, Xi and Putin will gather for the military parade amid Ukrainian and Western concerns over the collaboration of the three nations in bolstering Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, ongoing since February 2022.

Ukrainian and Western governments have accused North Korea of supplying significant amounts of ammunition and troops to support Russia’s war, while Kyiv and its NATO backers have identified China as Moscow’s prime source of materiel and a vital economic lifeline.

Speaking at the SCO meeting on Monday, Putin said the war in Ukraine began with a Western-sponsored “coup” and “attempts by the West” to “”pull Ukraine into NATO.” The address echoed long-established false Russian narratives about the pro-Western 2014 Maidan Revolution and the subsequent Russian invasion of Crimea and eastern Ukraine. Moscow built on that round of aggression by launching its full-scale invasion in 2022.

Putin said he spoke with Xi on Sunday about the ongoing U.S.-sponsored peace process in Ukraine, which has so far failed to produce a ceasefire or a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders.

Putin and Xi met again on Tuesday morning, according to a readout from the state-run Xinhua news agency. The two leaders signed “more than 20 bilateral cooperation documents,” Xinhua reported.

Bilateral relations, Putin said, “have reflected a high degree of strategy and reached the highest level in history,” Xinhua reported. Xi, meanwhile, said ties between Beijing and Moscow “have withstood the test of international changes,” according to Xinhua.

The Russian president also met with Modi on Monday. India — along with China — is a top customer for Russian energy exports, an income stream that Ukraine and its allies say has helped Moscow soften the impact of international sanctions and fund its war.

In a post to X, Modi said he had an “excellent meeting” with Putin.

“Discussed ways to deepen bilateral cooperation in all sectors, including trade, fertilizers, space, security and culture,” he added. “We exchanged views on regional and global developments, including the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine.”

The meeting comes shortly after U.S President Donald Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on all Indian goods — bringing the total tariff rate to 50% — related to India’s continued purchases of Russian energy exports and military equipment.

ABC News’ Kate Lee, Tanya Stukalova, Anna Sergeeva, Karson Yiu, Will Gretsky and Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.