China's Xi to visit North Korea next week for 1st time in 7 years

President of China Xi Jinping will visit North Korea next week at the invitation of leader Kim Jong Un, the two countries' state media said Friday, in what would be his first trip to the country since June 2019, AzerNEWS reports.

The two-day visit from Monday comes after Xi held talks with United States President Donald Trump on May 14 and 15 and met Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 20.

The visit is expected to highlight China's efforts to maintain close ties with North Korea and Russia as tensions with Western countries continue.

The Xi-Kim meeting will be closely watched for whether the two leaders discuss North Korea's nuclear programme, after the White House said Xi and Trump reaffirmed the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as a shared goal at their summit. Pyongyang, however, has shown no willingness to give up its nuclear weapons.

Kim visited China last September for the first time in about six years and held talks with Xi in Beijing.

In July, the two neighbors will mark the 65th anniversary of the signing of a treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance.

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