SEPTEMBER 5 — When Chairman Kim Jong Un met President Vladimir Putin in Beijing this October, on the sidelines of the 80th anniversary commemorations marking the end of World War II in 1945, the spectacle did not end with their formal handshake.

As the leaders departed, Kim’s aides moved in with precision: wiping down armrests, clearing the table, and even pocketing the glass from which he had sipped. What may appear as an obsession with cleanliness is in fact a hallmark of Pyongyang’s statecraft. In North Korea’s worldview, DNA is not mere residue—it is state intelligence.

From a hair strand or saliva trace, rivals could infer Kim’s health, stamina, or hereditary vulnerabilities. In a regime where the leader embodies the nation’s survival, even whispers of frailty could invite instability. Hence the armored train with a private toilet, the practice of securing all bodily waste, and the sanitization of every surface. Guarding DNA is, for Pyongyang, guarding the myth of invincibility.

Health as statecraft

North Korea has refined this theatre for decades. Kim Jong Il reportedly followed similar routines, and Kim Jong Un has elevated them into ritual. For regimes built on personality cults, biology is destiny. Revealing weakness risks emboldening rivals or inviting foreign intervention. Scrubbing away DNA is thus a statement of control—over the leader’s body, the state, and the story.

Seen in Beijing, however, this ritual resonates differently. North Korea may share the stage with China and Russia in countering US dominance, but trust is conspicuously absent. Pyongyang’s suspicion extends even to its allies. By erasing every trace in Beijing, Kim signaled that neither Moscow nor Beijing is fully trusted.

The Sino-US dimension

The timing was deliberate. Beijing had convened Putin and Kim to project the strength of an alternative power bloc to the US-led order. Yet Kim’s refusal to let even a water glass remain behind dramatised the fragility of this “unity.” For Washington, this is both frustrating and illuminating: Beijing cannot “deliver” Pyongyang as easily as American policymakers often assume.

In an era of Sino-US rivalry, Kim’s ritual illustrates how smaller states can manipulate mistrust between great powers to preserve autonomy. His body becomes metaphor: closed, opaque, and impenetrable.

Lessons for Asean

For Asean, preparing to convene the East Asia Summit, the Asean-GCC-China Economic Summit, the Asia Zero Emissions Community (AZEC), and the RCEP meetings in Kuala Lumpur this October, the symbolism is timely. Asean may not operate with the authoritarian secrecy of North Korea, but it, too, holds assets that others covet — semiconductors, rare earths, maritime routes, and digital platforms.

Just as Kim guards his DNA, Asean must guard its strategic DNA. The United States seeks to integrate Southeast Asia into its supply chain and digital orbit; China presses forward with trade corridors and infrastructure. Both aim to map and exploit Asean’s vulnerabilities, whether in maritime security, economic dependency, or data networks.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has sought to cast Malaysia, and Asean by extension, as a convenor of dialogue among powers. But convening without guarding risks hollowing out sovereignty. 

The lesson of Kim’s Beijing ritual is that diplomacy must be paired with resilience. Only by safeguarding its core interests can Asean remain a neutral platform where great powers meet but do not dominate.

*Phar Kim Beng, PhD, is the Professor of Asean Studies and Director of the Institute of International and Asean Studies (IINTAS) at the International Islamic University of Malaysia.

**This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.