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Chinese President Xi Jinping and First Lady Peng Liyuan wave from their presidential aircraft as they prepare to depart Pyongyang on June 9, concluding a two-day state visit to North Korea at the invitation of State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un, the Korean Central News Agency reported on June 10. Chairman Kim and First Lady Ri Sol-ju personally attended the farewell ceremony at Pyongyang International Airport. / Photo courtesy of KCNA, Yonhap News Agency (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution)

North Korean state media reported on June 16 that State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un sent a congratulatory message and a flower basket to Chinese President Xi Jinping on the occasion of his 73rd birthday. This marks the first time in three years that Chairman Kim has sent a birthday message and a flower basket to President Xi, since the Chinese leader's 70th birthday in 2023. The gesture is interpreted as a reflection of the restored and elevated bilateral relations following the recent North Korea-China summit.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on this day that Chairman Kim "extended warm congratulations on Comrade Xi Jinping's birthday," and "sincerely wished Comrade Xi Jinping good health and even greater success in leading the cause of building socialism in China as the core of the leadership of the Communist Party of China." According to the news agency, Chairman Kim's congratulatory message and flower basket were delivered by the North Korean ambassador to China to the International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Until now, Chairman Kim's "birthday message diplomacy" toward President Xi had primarily taken place during five-year milestone anniversaries (Jeongjuyeon). Chairman Kim previously sent congratulatory messages and flower baskets to mark President Xi's 60th, 65th, and 70th birthdays in 2013, 2018, and 2023, respectively. The current gesture is evaluated as unusual given that it marks President Xi's 73rd birthday. Analysts attribute this to the display of close alignment during the Pyongyang summit on June 8, where the two leaders upgraded bilateral relations to a "strategic cooperative relationship" for the first time in over seven years.

An official from the Ministry of Unification told reporters on the same day, "In the past, North Korea delivered congratulatory messages or flower baskets on President Xi's milestone birthdays, but this time they did so despite it being a non-milestone year," adding, "This is presumed to reflect the close relations between North Korea and China, including President Xi's recent visit to North Korea."

Some analysts also suggest that Chairman Kim's "birthday message diplomacy" has broken away from the standardized format of occurring only during milestone years, turning instead into a kind of "indicator" that demonstrates the status of bilateral relations. Along with this recent message to President Xi, congratulatory messages to Russian President Vladimir Putin have also been sent during non-milestone years recently.

According to North Korean media, Chairman Kim sent a congratulatory message for President Putin's 70th birthday in 2022, followed by successive birthday messages in 2024 and 2025. This is analyzed as an effect of the two nations signing a new treaty and establishing close military cooperation triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war.

Oh Gyeong-seob, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, analyzed, "North Korea is utilizing the birthdays of Xi Jinping and Putin to achieve strategic objectives with China and Russia," adding, "In the case of this non-milestone birthday message, the intention is to maximize the effects of the North Korea-China summit."

                                                                                                           Mok Yong-jae