BEIJING, June 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Xi Jinping will visit North Korea this week, marking the first visit there by a Chinese president in more than a decade, state media said Monday.
He will visit Pyongyang Thursday and Friday at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said Chinese broadcaster CCTV.
China and North Korea have worked to improve relations in the past year after they deteriorated as Beijing backed a series of UN sanctions against Pyongyang over its nuclear activities.
The North’s leader Kim Jong Un travelled to China four times in the past year to meet Xi.
Xi, who had yet to reciprocate, will be in North Korea for a state visit on Thursday and Friday, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV — the first trip there by a Chinese president since Hu Jintao in 2005.
The trip to North Korea comes just one week before the G20 summit in Japan, where US President Donald Trump expects to meet with Xi to discuss their trade war.