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China’s Xi to visit North Korea this week: state media
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.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1746 hrs