In China, Kim Jong-un is regarded not only as North Korea’s supreme leader, he is a millennial. As Kim arrived in Beijing on Monday for a three-day visit, Chinese media went out of their way to flatter the young leader.

“The millennial who commands the wind and clouds has arrived in Beijing,” wrote Liu Hong, the Chinese editor of a Xinhua affiliate, on his public WeChat account. “To come to China for a heart-to-heart ahead of such momentous change is a sign of the complexity of the situation and the ability of the millennial to seize the moment.”

Other publications republished Liu’s commentary.

Chinese state media have often highlighted Kim’s age. In 2010, as it became clear Kim would be the successor to his father, Kim Jong-il, People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist party, dedicated a page to Kim, describing him as world’s “the most extraordinary millennial”. In 2012, a CCTV special on Kim hailed him for bringing in younger officials into his government.

But referring to Kim as a millennial, specifically a balinghou, or post-80s, a generation in China who grew up in the relative comfort of China’s reform era, is not entirely complimentary. In China, they are often described as self-indulgent, spoiled, and lacking resilience. Among netizens Kim is often referred to as zuiniudebalinghou or “the most badass millennial.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s motorcade arrives in Beijing on Tuesday. Photograph: Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images

For Kim, the emphasis on his youth serves as a veiled insult in a country where the average age of senior officials was 63 in 2012, the most recent leadership transition. Ties between Pyongyang and Beijing, its closest ally, deteriorated after Kim took office.

“It’s serving a dual purpose, both to suggest that based on his youth he could be the right kind of reformer, and as a bit of a put-down,” said Mintaro Oba, a former US diplomat.

“[Beijing is] happy to be positive toward Kim and North Korea, as long as they establish a hierarchical relationship. They don’t want to put Kim on equal terms with Xi,” he said.

Kim’s trip to Beijing this week follows three visits to China last year, a sign ties may be improving, but the relationship remains complicated.

“Underlying everything is the fact that North Korea resents being so dependent on Beijing and China wishes North Korea would be a more pliable, less provocative vassal state that embraces the Chinese model of economic reform,” Oba said.

