Song Tao, a prominent diplomat and head of the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC), arrived in North Korea on Friday for a four-day visit as a special envoy of Beijing.
Song Tao’s trip comes at a time when relations between North Korea and China are changing fast: since mid-August, Beijing has been increasingly tough on its neighbor and, technically, ally.
Readers with good memories may recall that we have seen this before: in recent years there have been many episodes when observers claimed that China had finally decided to
Song Tao, a prominent diplomat and head of the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC), arrived in North Korea on Friday for a four-day visit as a special envoy of Beijing.
Song Tao’s trip comes at a time when relations between North Korea and China are changing fast: since mid-August, Beijing has been increasingly tough on its neighbor and, technically, ally.
Andrei Lankov is a Director at NK News and writes exclusively for the site as one of the world's leading authorities on North Korea. A graduate of Leningrad State University, he attended Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung University from 1984-5 - an experience you can read about here. In addition to his writing, he is also a Professor at Kookmin University.