Kim Jong-un of North Korea visits China on the eve of a significant military parade.

Headline: historic military parade in Beijing to mark 80th anniversary of World War II end, with Kim Jong Un's first visit to China since 2019

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is set to make his first public appearance with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as thousands of troops prepare to march in a massive military parade in Beijing this Wednesday.

Kim Jong Un has remained in North Korea throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, and his special train crossed into China early Tuesday, marking his first visit to the country since 2019. The leader's appearance in China formalizes the China-Russia-North Korea trilateral relationship to the public.

The military parade, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Japan and the end of World War II, will showcase significant new systems, including a rumored gigantic laser weapon. Security around Beijing has tightened in recent days and weeks, with officials remaining tight-lipped over the list of hardware to be displayed.

China is looking to signal its closeness to its global south partners and countries that are non-Western and, in some cases, anti-Western. Many of the guests from the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, including Putin, will join Xi and Kim for the parade in Beijing.

Notable attendees include India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has not visited China since 2019, and the leaders of Russia and Iran. Most Western leaders will stay away from the event, but Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico and Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic will attend.

Both Fico and Vucic are close to Putin and broke ranks with the European Union to visit Russia for its Victory Day parade in May. Art installations with flowers, doves, and an emblem showing the Great Wall of China with "1945-2025" have cropped up around the city, adding to the anticipation of the historic event.

All eyes will be on the seating arrangements of Xi, Putin, and Kim and how they interact with each other. This is the first time Kim will appear in public with Xi and Putin together, a development that underscores China's role as the world's leading authoritarian power. Kim Jong Un withdrew from the global diplomatic scene after the collapse of a summit with Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2019.