‘As close as lips and teeth’: The highs and lows of China-North Korea ties

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang on Monday to the full theatre of North Korean state ceremony, with flags, flowers, military honours and crowds to welcome the leader of the country that has long been one of North Korea’s closest allies.

Kim Jong Un and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, greeted Xi and wife, Peng Liyuan, at Pyongyang’s international airport before the Chinese leader was taken to the capital’s main square, where portraits of Xi and Kim looked out over the choreographed display of friendship.

“Long Live the Unbreakable Friendship and Unity between North Korea and China,” one banner read, according to Chinese news outlet Xinhua.

Xi’s first visit to North Korea since 2019 comes as both governments are seeking to reaffirm a relationship that has survived famine, nuclear tensions, diplomatic strain and a shifting global order.

Their relationship has often been described with an old Chinese phrase: “As close as lips and teeth” – a metaphor famously first used in the 1950s by Chairman Mao Zedong to define the close ties of the historic allies .

Here’s a potted history of their close, and sometimes tumultuous, relationship.

The roots of the relationship pre-date the founding of both modern states, as many early North Korean leaders, including Kim Il Sung, had links to the Chinese Communist movement before the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) was established in 1948.  A year later, on October 6, 1949, North Korea and the newly founded People’s Republic of China established formal diplomatic relations.

The alliance between them was soon tested by war, when North Korean forces were pushed back during the Korean War between North Korea and South Korea.