Kim Jong Un to visit China for first time since 2019

China said Thursday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will attend a huge military parade in Beijing on September 3 to mark 80 years since the end of World War II.

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Beijing's assistant minister of foreign affairs, Hong Lei, announced Kim's attendance at a press conference on Thursday morning.

The North Korean leader last visited China in January 2019 for talks with President Xi Jinping.

Some 26 leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, will also attend the parade that will showcase China's latest equipment and see Xi inspect troops in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Millions of Chinese people were killed during a prolonged war with imperial Japan in the 1930s and 40s, which became part of a global conflict following Tokyo's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.