Pyongyang | Pakistan

China’s President Xi Jinping hailed an “invincible friendship” with Pyongyang as he arrived in North Korea on Monday, his first trip abroad this year after hosting back-to-back summits in Beijing. China, Washington’s chief geopolitical rival, has been North Korea’s main trading partner by far for decades and a key source of diplomatic and economic support for the country hit by multiple international sanctions. Military officers lined a red carpet as an Air China plane carrying Xi arrived for his first visit since 2019, video from Xinhua showed. A banner that read “We warmly welcome Comrade Xi Jinping” and hailing the two countries’ “unbreakable friendship” hung below Chinese and North Korean flags at the airport. Xi made the trip after hosting US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin separately in Beijing, and as North Korea’s nuclear talks with Washington remain deadlocked. The White House said last month that Xi and Trump “confirmed their shared goal to denuclearise North Korea” during their s...

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit North Korea from June 8 to 9, state news agency Xinhua said on Friday, his first trip in nearly seven years as Beijing looks to reassert ties with Pyongyang. The announcement follows separate summits Xi hosted in Beijing for US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin last month. Trump, who met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times in his first term, previously said he would be open to meeting the North Korean leader again. Xi would be visiting on an invitation from Kim, North Korean state media KCNA said. Kim was a guest at a massive military parade in Beijing last September, travelling to the Chinese capital on his signature green armoured train. Beijing has worked to draw Pyongyang — its only formal treaty ally — back into its fold, after the Covid-19 pandemic froze exchanges and the North Korean leader deepened relations with Moscow by sending troops and weapons to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “The message implicit from the Chinese ...

Putin hails deepening Pyongyang ties