China's Xi to visit North Korea as Beijing seeks deeper Pyongyang ties

BEIJING/SEOUL – China announced on Friday that President Xi Jinping will visit North Korea for a two-day trip starting June 8. This marks Xi’s first visit to Pyongyang in nearly seven years as Beijing seeks to strengthen ties with its only formal treaty ally.

China has worked to re-engage North Korea after the COVID-19 pandemic halted exchanges. During this period, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un deepened relations with Moscow, sending troops and weapons in support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

"The message implicit from the Chinese side is ... we are still the principal actor when it comes to North Korea," said John Delury, senior fellow at the Asia Society. "One of the audiences is Russia."

The announcement was made by the international department of the ruling Chinese Communist Party and follows Xi’s recent summits in Beijing with U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Xi’s visit to North Korea comes at the invitation of Kim, according to state news agency KCNA.

South Korea has described the trip as a high-level bilateral exchange, unrelated to Moscow, a Blue House official said.

"We do not interpret this as a coordinated move by the three countries, nor are we sure how it would be linked to the U.S.-China summit," the official added. Seoul expects China to continue playing a constructive role in addressing peninsula issues.

Kim attended a massive military parade in Beijing last September, traveling on his signature green armored train. Passenger train services between Beijing and Pyongyang resumed in March after a six-year suspension due to the pandemic, and Air China has restarted flights. However, travel remains limited to business travelers and exchange students, with Chinese tourists still barred.

FIRST OVERSEAS TRIP THIS YEAR

Xi’s trip to Pyongyang will be his first overseas visit this year. The 72-year-old, who travels abroad less frequently, last visited internationally in October, meeting Trump in South Korea.

"At the symbolic level, it is important for Xi to keep tabs on what’s going on in Pyongyang," Delury said. He added that Xi visiting both Koreas within a year would be a "big win" for the peninsula. "There’s a kind of symmetry that the Chinese like to keep up regarding the two Koreas."

Trump, who met Kim three times during his first term, has indicated he is open to meeting the North Korean leader again.

Since becoming China’s top leader in 2012, Xi has visited North Korea once and South Korea twice. He also traveled to Pyongyang in 2008 as vice president, meeting Kim Jong Il, the father of the current leader.

This week, Kim called for an "exponential" expansion of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal during a visit to a new factory producing nuclear material. Experts suggest the visit may be linked to his upcoming meeting with Xi. Before his September trip to Beijing, Kim inspected plans for a new intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-20.

-Reporting by Xiuhao Chen and Liz Lee in Beijing; Jack Kim, Kyu-seok Shim, and Brenda Goh in Seoul; Edited by Himani Sarkar, Kate Mayberry, and Clarence Fernandez/Reuters