A senior Chinese delegation will travel this week to the DPRK to take part in celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, KCNA state news agency reported on Monday.

The trip marks the first publicly-known visit by a foreign delegation to the country since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Li Hongzhong, a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party CCP, will be among the delegation of high-level state officials to attend the event.

Li, who is also the first-ranking vice chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, will visit "to take part in the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the victory in the great Fatherland Liberation War," KCNA added.

The DPRK has been subject to UN sanctions since 2006 over its missile launches and nuclear program, which the country stresses that they are crucial tools to defend its sovereignty against US hegemony and its regional allies.

In 2017, the United Nations introduced more sanctions to limit the besieged nation's crude oil imports.

Aiming to further suffocate the struggling country, a Western-led resolution to impose new sanctions was presented at the UN in 2022. But the motion was vetoed by China and Russia, who both consider that Washington stands behind attempts to destabilize the East Asia region and is preventing a peaceful settlement to the conflict in the Korean Peninsula by militarizing its South Korean ally, as well as regional players such as Japan and Taiwan.

In its latest provocative measure, the United States deployed last week its second nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) at a naval base in South Korea.

This step came in the context of the new agreement between Washington and Seoul with the objective of coordinating an allied nuclear response in case of a war with the DPRK, which conducted last Wednesday its latest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch as an act of self-defense after the US violated the country's airspace several times over the week.

Related News

DPRK parades nuclear capabilities; 'US has no room for survival'

A member of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK warned on Friday that unless the US ceases to carry out its "hostile policy" against the DPRK, Pyongyang will unleash "overwhelming nuclear deterrence." 

Read more: S. Korea, US agree on creating NATO-like nuke consultation group

Stranded US soldier

On July 21, the United States officially requested that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) returns Private Travis King, a US soldier who defected to Pyongyang, the US Department of State Spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.

"We have relayed messages to the DPRK that Private King crossed on his own and we want him returned safely," Miller said. The spokesperson also said Washington asked for information on the Private's health. 

This came after news broke out that a US soldier crossed the demarcation line to the DPRK.

Private Travis King "willfully and without authorization" crossed over during a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area, which is a demilitarized zone that has separated Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

In a statement, US Forces Korea spokesperson Col. Isaac Taylor said, “We believe he is currently in [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] custody and are working with our [Korean People’s Army] counterparts to resolve this incident."

King, a cavalry scout who joined the military in January 2021, was assigned to the 6th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division out of Fort Bliss, Texas, at the time of his duty in South Korea, per Army spokesperson Bryce Dubee.

King is the first US soldier to cross into the DPRK since 1982. His mother, Claudine Gates, expressed to ABC News that she was "shocked" to hear the news.

"I can’t see Travis doing anything like that," she said, explaining that she spoke to her son several days ago, and he told her that he’d be returning to his base in Fort Bliss.