BEIJING/SEOUL — In a significant diplomatic move aimed at strengthening traditional alliances and countering rival influences, Chinese President Xi Jinping will embark on a two-day state visit to North Korea starting June 8, Reuters reported Friday. This marks Xi’s first trip to Pyongyang in nearly seven years and signals a renewed push by Beijing to solidify its relationship with its only formal treaty ally.
According to a report by Reuters journalists Liz Lee, Xiuhao Chen, and Jack Kim, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, confirmed the trip during a press briefing. Mao stated that the upcoming summit between Xi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will focus on bilateral relations and key issues of common concern. The foreign ministry emphasized that both nations view the trip as a critical opportunity to “promote greater development of China-North Korea relations in keeping with the times.”
Diplomatic analysts speaking to Reuters indicate that the timing of the visit is highly strategic. Beijing has been working quietly to draw Pyongyang back into its diplomatic fold following years of isolation. The COVID-19 pandemic froze high-level exchanges between the two neighbors for years, a window during which Kim Jong Un significantly deepened political and military ties with Moscow. North Korea has notably supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by providing both weaponry and troops to the Russian war effort.
The relationship between Beijing and Pyongyang is rooted in a 65-year-old cooperation and mutual assistance treaty, which legally binds both nations to provide immediate military support if either comes under attack. Experts suggest that Xi’s sudden trip is a calculated reminder to both Pyongyang and the international community regarding who holds the primary leverage in the region.
“The message implicit from the Chinese side is that we are still the principal actor when it comes to North Korea,” John Delury, a senior fellow at the Asia Society, told Reuters. “One of the audiences is Russia.”
According to Reuters, the announcement by the international department of the ruling Chinese Communist Party follows high-stakes diplomacy for Xi Jinping, who hosted separate summits in Beijing last month with U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Signs of a diplomatic thaw between the two Asian neighbors have been mounting for months. Reuters noted that Kim Jong Un was a high-profile guest at a massive military parade in Beijing last September, making his journey to the Chinese capital aboard his signature green armored train.
By March, passenger train services between Beijing and Pyongyang resumed after a six-year pandemic-induced suspension. Air China followed suit shortly after, restarting regular flights between the capitals. However, Reuters reports that cross-border travel remains strictly controlled; current bookings are largely limited to essential business travelers and exchange students, while Chinese tourists remain excluded.
The Pyongyang trip marks Xi’s first overseas travel of the year. The 72-year-old Chinese leader has notably scaled back his international travel itinerary; his last venture out of China took place in late October when he traveled to South Korea to meet with President Trump.
President Trump, who met with Kim Jong Un three times during his first presidential term, has previously indicated that he remains open to future face-to-face talks with the North Korean leader. Delury pointed out to Reuters that by visiting both North and South Korea within a single year, Xi achieves a sense of diplomatic balance that Beijing highly values. “There’s a kind of symmetry that the Chinese like to keep up,” Delury said.
Officials in South Korea are downplaying concerns that the visit signals a tightening trilateral alignment between Beijing, Moscow, and Pyongyang. According to an official from Seoul’s presidential Blue House who spoke to Reuters, the administration views the trip strictly as a high-level bilateral exchange.
“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 Blue House official remarked. Reuters reported that Seoul expects China to continue playing a constructive, stabilizing role regarding security issues on the peninsula.
Since taking power in 2012, Xi has visited North Korea only once, compared to two visits to South Korea. However, he previously visited Pyongyang in 2008 as vice president, where he met with Kim Jong Un’s late father, Kim Jong Il.
The upcoming summit arrives amid heightened security anxieties. North Korean state media outlet KCNA reported this week that Kim Jong Un called for an “exponential” expansion of North Korea’s atomic arsenal during a visit to a nuclear materials factory. Experts interviewed by Reuters frequently link Kim’s high-profile military inspections to upcoming diplomatic talks.
Notably, just before his September trip to Beijing, Kim inspected plans for a new intercontinental ballistic missile, the “Hwasong-20,” signaling that security leverage will top the agenda when the two leaders meet next week.
