Chinese leader Xi Jinping visit to North Korea confirmed for next week

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit North Korea next Monday and Tuesday in a show of the two countries’ strong ties.

At the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Xi will pay a state visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from June 8 to 9, Xinhua reported on Friday morning, citing a statement from the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

The trip will be Xi’s second to North Korea. The Chinese president visited in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic shut border crossings between the countries for years.

Beijing and Pyongyang are cautiously rebuilding ties after years of relative isolation due to the pandemic, North Korea’s dissatisfaction with China’s support for denuclearisation and Beijing’s reservations over Pyongyang’s growing military cooperation with Moscow.

Xi’s visit come weeks after he received US president Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Beijing.