The live broadcast of Xi Jinping’s visit to North Korea, with its carefully choreographed smiles and waving crowds, is a masterpiece of stagecraft. But while the world watches the pageantry, British analysts are whispering a darker script: the timing of a nuclear test. This is not mere paranoia.
It is the logic of the Hermit Kingdom, a state that has elevated brinkmanship to an art form. Kim Jong-un, like his father and grandfather before him, understands that the only currency that buys attention is provocation. Xi’s presence offers a diplomatic shield: a test during a visit by China’s paramount leader would be a rupture, but one that Beijing might be forced to excuse.
The analysts are right to warn. We have seen this play before. In the 1990s, North Korea’s nuclear brinkmanship followed a similar rhythm: a diplomatic overture, then a shock.
The question is whether Xi’s visit is a genuine effort at denuclearisation or a precursor to a dangerous new escalation. The Victorian era saw the Great Game; we now have a nuclear one. And the players are no less ruthless.
