Less than a week after the summit between Joe Biden and Moon Jae-in in Washington, D.C., Pyongyang’s new ambassador to Beijing, Ri Ryong Nam, met with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. 

Such a high-level meeting between Chinese and North Korean officials certainly indicates an additional step in the direction of China and North Korea revitalizing their relationship, coming shortly on the heels of the appointment of senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official Wang Yajun as Beijing’s new ambassador in Pyongyang.