Chinese President Xi Jinping may visit North Korea as early as next week, Yonhap News reported, citing government officials, as Beijing and Pyongyang move to strengthen longstanding ties.
¡°There¡¯s a high possibility of Xi Jinping visiting North Korea late this month or early next month,¡± Yonhap reported.
China¡¯s security and protocol teams recently visited Pyongyang, the news agency reported, without identifying its sources by name. The Chinese Foreign Ministry didn¡¯t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Xi already has a busy week ahead, with Serbia¡¯s president scheduled to visit China from May 24 to 28. The monthly gathering of the top decision-making Politburo is also expected to take place in the end of May.
The visit, if it takes place, would be Xi¡¯s first trip to North Korea in seven years and would come after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Beijing to join a Chinese military parade in September last year. The two countries, historical allies, have recently moved to bolster bilateral ties, for example, restarting train and plane services between their capitals.
An official at South Korea¡¯s presidential office said the government is closely monitoring related developments, when asked about the potential visit.
¡°We hope that exchanges between North Korea and China will proceed in a way that contributes to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, and expect China to play a constructive role in Korean peninsula issues,¡± the Blue House official said on Thursday.
South Korea has been trying to improve ties with North Korea and help arrange a meeting between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump. But Pyongyang has largely ignored the overtures from the Seoul government while urging Washington to recognize the country as a nuclear power.
The media report comes shortly after Xi¡¯s back-to-back meetings with?Trump and Russia¡¯s Vladimir Putin.
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi visited North Korea in April and met with Kim. He highlighted the socialist bond between the two nations, adding that Beijing and Pyongyang should strengthen coordination in major global and regional affairs.
Beijing has long been North Korea¡¯s primary backer, providing crucial economic lifelines as the U.S. and its allies upheld sanctions against the isolated regime. While Pyongyang has moved closer to Moscow in recent years, supporting Russia¡¯s war against Ukraine, the visit to Beijing last year by North Korea¡¯s Kim and his first in-person meeting with Xi in six years signaled that both sides were keen to rebalance that dynamic.
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