Daily Times

Seoul: North Korea sent “warm congratulations” Friday to ally China ahead of the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, a message analysts said likely signals it will stop test-firing missiles during the event.

Pyongyang conducted an unprecedented seven weapons tests in January, including launching its most powerful missile since 2017 as it hinted it could restart long-range and nuclear testing.

The sabre-rattling raised tensions on the Korean peninsula and forced Beijing — Pyongyang’s main diplomatic ally and economic benefactor — to block a US push for new UN sanctions over the barrage.

On Friday, state media in North Korea reported leader Kim Jong Un “warmly congratulated” China’s President Xi Jinping on successfully opening the Beijing Winter Olympics “despite the worldwide health crisis and unprecedented severe circumstances”.

“The Olympic torch flaring up in Beijing clearly proves that no difficulty and challenge can ever prevent the Chinese people from vigorously advancing,” Kim’s message said, according to state-run KCNA.

North Korea’s string of sanctions-busting weapons tests in January would have made Beijing “very uncomfortable”, Cheong Seong-chang of the Centre for North Korea Studies at Sejong Institute told AFP.

“But as Kim Jong Un sent a congratulatory message to Xi Jinping today, China can now expect that Pyongyang will refrain from weapons tests during the Olympics,” he said.

It is “highly unlikely” Pyongyang would “annoy” Beijing by test-firing a missile during the Olympics, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.

“China clearly doesn’t want any military tension during the Games. Also, the UN has urged all countries to observe a truce during the Olympics — which adds another layer of pressure,” he said.