China’s Xi Jinping heads to North Korea in 1st visit since 2019

Chinese President Xi Jinping will travel to North Korea next week, both countries announced Friday, marking his first visit to the isolated nation in nearly seven years.

The trip is the latest sign of Beijing’s efforts to strengthen ties with its nuclear-armed neighbor at a time when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has deepened relations with Russia, including by sending troops and conventional weapons to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Pyongyang has also moved to rebuild closer ties with China, its largest trading partner and a key source of economic assistance, over the past year.

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

State media in both countries said Xi will make a state visit Monday and Tuesday. His previous trip to North Korea was in June 2019.

The visit comes just weeks after Xi welcomed President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to Beijing in separate high-profile meetings, underscoring China’s growing diplomatic engagement with major global powers.

North Korea’s nuclear weapons program has long been a major concern for the United States. The United Nations has imposed economic sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs.

The announcement came a day after North Korea unveiled a new facility to produce materials used in nuclear bombs. South Korea’s military assessed the facility as a uranium enrichment plant.

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

Experts say the disclosure of the facility suggests Kim is seeking to cement his country’s status as a nuclear weapons state ahead of Xi’s visit.

They say Kim wants international recognition as a nuclear power so he can push for sanctions relief. Analysts also believe he ultimately wants arms-control talks with the United States in exchange for a partial reduction of his nuclear capabilities.

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

Trump has repeatedly expressed a desire to restore diplomacy with Kim, but the North Korean leader has said the United States must first abandon its demand for denuclearization as a condition for talks.

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

Russia and China, both veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, have previously frustrated U.S.-led efforts to tighten international sanctions on North Korea despite its banned weapons tests.

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

Embracing the concepts of a “new Cold War” and a multipolar world, Kim has pursued a more assertive foreign policy by strengthening ties with countries at odds with the United States.

Xi, who traveled widely during his early years in power, has sharply reduced his overseas travel since the COVID-19 pandemic. His last foreign trip was to South Korea last fall for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, where he met with Trump.

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