North Korea and China secured major diplomatic victories — and possibly more — this week with leader Kim Jong Un's visit to Beijing, a move that bolsters Pyongyang's leverage ahead of talks with Washington and returns Beijing to its role as a central player in the nuclear crisis roiling the Korean Peninsula.

For Kim, the young dictator's first trip abroad as leader was part of an apparently concerted diplomatic gamble that has paid off in promises of summit meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. leader Donald Trump, as well as the tacit acknowledgement of North Korea as a nuclear state by China.

"Presentationally, at least, this is a big win for Kim; being greeted 'unofficially' in Beijing with full honors, getting a personal meeting with Xi Jinping, and cozy family pictures together in the Great Hall," said Euan Graham, a former British diplomat who served in Pyongyang and who is currently director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute in Australia.