Or is it those ever closer ties between North Korea and Russia? Moscow's help in exchange for support in the war against Ukraine has been followed up by North Korea's boast of plans to "exponentially" ramp up its nuclear arsenal.
We ask about what was unsaid during Xi's visit to Pyongyang and whether those claims of a construction boom and growth inside one of the world's most reclusive states are true. For instance, is North Korea serious when it talks of developing a tourist industry? And if that growth is for real, how's China taking the news?
Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.
