Amid growing North Korea-Russia ties, China’s government this week dispatched a high-level delegation to Pyongyang in an apparent effort to woo the regime of Kim Jong Un back into its orbit, according to published reports in Beijing.

Zhao Leji, the No. 3 official in China, is leading a “goodwill visit” to North Korea, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency and China’s Foreign Ministry disclosed. Mr. Zhao is the highest-ranking official to visit North Korea since President Xi Jinping traveled there in June 2019.

At the Chinese Foreign Ministry, spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters Tuesday that the visit “reflects the deep friendship between our two countries and the great importance China attaches to it.”

Chinese leaders in the past have described the relationship between the two communist regimes to be “as close as lips and teeth.”

North Korea’s ties with Russia have deepened in recent months as Pyongyang has been supplying Moscow with weapons and ammunition for use in the war on Ukraine. In exchange, North Korea has received large amounts of aid from Russia.

Read more from Bill Gertz’s Inside The Ring. 

• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.