Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay a two-day state visit to North Korea next week, marking his first trip to the country since 2019.
According to Chinese state news agency Xinhua and North Korea’s KCNA, Xi will be in North Korea from June 8 to 9 at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. It is also expected to be Xi’s first overseas trip of 2026.
The visit comes as Beijing seeks to deepen ties with Pyongyang at a time when North Korea has been expanding its nuclear programme and strengthening military cooperation with Russia. Analysts say Xi’s trip is aimed at reinforcing China’s influence over its only formal treaty ally on the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea recently unveiled a new facility aimed at producing components for nuclear weapons, with leader Kim Jong Un vowing an “exponential” increase in the country’s nuclear forces. Xi’s visit is expected to feature talks on security, economic cooperation and regional tensions amid growing concern over Pyongyang’s weapons tests.
South Korean and Japanese media had earlier reported that Chinese security and protocol teams were sighted in Pyongyang, fuelling speculation that Xi could travel to North Korea in late May or early June before the visit was formally confirmed.
The trip will add to a series of Kim–Xi summits held in 2018, 2019 and 2025, underscoring the strategic nature of China–North Korea relations as global powers jostle for influence in Northeast Asia.
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