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Chinese President to visit North Korea this week, a first in 14 years
It will be the first visit to North Korea by a Chinese President in 14 years; Xi’s predecessor, President Hu Jintao visited Pyongyang in 2005 to meet then-leader, Kim Jong-il while Premier Wen Jiabao visited the country in 2009.
President Xi Jinping will make his first visit to North Korea on June 20-21, state media announced Monday evening, making him the first Chinese leader to do so in more than a decade.
The visit comes in the backdrop of negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington on the secretive country’s denuclerisation.
It will be the first visit to North Korea by a Chinese President in 14 years; Xi’s predecessor, President Hu Jintao visited Pyongyang in 2005 to meet then-leader, Kim Jong-il while Premier Wen Jiabao visited the country in 2009.
Xi has met the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un four times in the last one year with Beijing – which is the impoverished country’s key ally and economic benefactor -- said to be supporting and guiding Kim’s two summits with US President Donald Trump.
The visit comes ahead of the G20 summit in Osaka in Japan and a U.S.-South Korea summit to be held at the end of the month.
During his meeting with Kim, Xi is likely to focus on bilateral ties, denuclerisation and efforts to resolve tensions in the Korean Peninsula.
“This visit is on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s formal name). It is of great significance to the relationship between the two countries and the future,” Song Tao, head of the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) international department was quoted as saying at a media briefing on Monday.
Song added that since CPC’s 18th National Congress, the Chinese party and government have been actively committed to developing China-DPRK relations.
“In less than a year, General Secretary Xi Jinping met with Chairman Kim Jong-un four times. The two sides exchanged in-depth views on China-DPRK relations and the situation on the peninsula and reached a series of important consensuses. China-DPRK relations have opened a new chapter,” Song said.
Song pointed out that both China and North Korea have agreed that maintaining, consolidating and developing relations is in the interests of the two countries and the two peoples.
Song said both countries are keen to “…cherish the hard-won peninsula dialogue (and) adhere to the denuclearisation of the peninsula….maintain peace and stability on the peninsula”.
“The leaders of the two countries will review and summarize the development process of bilateral relations over the past 70 years, exchange in-depth views on the development of China-DPRK relations in the new era, and lead the future direction of bilateral relations,” the Xinhua statement added.
The Xinhua statement added that China supports North Korea in implementing a new “…strategic line, concentrating on developing the economy, improving people’s livelihood, and firmly taking the development path in line with its national conditions”.
