Chinese leader will travel to North Korea next week in first visit since 2019

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will travel to North Korea next week, both countries announced, in what will be his first visit in nearly seven years.

His trip will be the latest in a series of steps by China to reinforce its close ties with its nuclear-armed neighbour.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reached out to Russia in recent years, notably by sending troops and conventional weapons to support its war against Ukraine.

But in the past year, Mr Kim has likewise been trying to improve ties with China, the North’s biggest trading partner and provider of aid.

William Yang, an analyst for the International Crisis Group said: “As North Korea builds closer ties with Russia, China seeks to use Mr Xi’s trip to reassert its influence over Pyongyang and safeguard its strategic interests in northeast Asia.”

Mr Xi will make a state visit from Monday to Tuesday, Chinese and North Korean state media said. His last visit was in June 2019.

The trip will serve to advance ties and strengthen regional peace and stability, a Chinese spokesperson said.

“The traditional friendly and cooperative relations between China and the DPRK have continued to develop in a sound and stable manner, bringing tangible benefits to both countries and their peoples,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s full name.

The trip is coming just a few weeks after Mr Xi hosted US president Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in quick succession in Beijing.

North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme has long been a major concern for the United States, which opposes it.

The UN has imposed economic sanctions on North Korea because of its nuclear and missile development.

The announcement of the trip came a day after North Korea unveiled a new facility to produce the material for nuclear bombs. It is believed to be a uranium enrichment plant, though North Korea has not confirmed that.

During a visit to the plant, Mr Kim announced plans to bolster the country’s nuclear forces “at an exponential rate”.

Experts say the plant’s disclosure implies that Kim was eager to cement his country’s status as a nuclear weapons state ahead of Mr Xi’s visit.

The experts say Mr Kim wants international recognition as a nuclear state so he can demand the lifting of the sanctions. They say Mr Kim would ultimately push for arms reductions talks with the US to win concessions in return for a partial surrender of his country’s nuclear capability.

Mr Kim has been focusing on expanding his nuclear arsenal since his high-stakes diplomacy with Mr Trump collapsed in 2019.

Mr Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to restore diplomacy with Mr Kim, but the North Korean leader has said the US must first drop its demand for North Korea to denuclearise as a precondition for talks.

Analysts will be watching to see what if anything China says during Mr Xi’s visit about calls for North Korea’s denuclearization.

Mr Xi and Mr Kim met in Beijing in September and pledged mutual support and enhanced cooperation. Mr Kim was in the Chinese capital to attend a Chinese military parade alongside other foreign leaders including Mr Putin.

Russia and China, both veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council, have previously frustrated efforts by the US and others to toughen international sanctions on North Korea, despite its banned weapons tests.

At their meeting in Beijing last month, Mr Putin and Mr Xi expressed their opposition to “foreign policy isolation, economic sanctions, military pressure and other methods of creating threats to the security” of North Korea, according to a statement from the Kremlin.

Embracing the ideas of a “new Cold War” and a multipolar world, Mr Kim has pushed for a more assertive foreign policy by expanding ties with countries locked in confrontation with the United States.

The trip abroad is a relatively rare one for Mr Xi, who has curtailed his international travel sharply since the Covid-19 pandemic. His last overseas visit was to South Korea last fall for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, where he met Mr Trump.