Xi Jinping meets Kim Jong Un, pledges to advance China-North Korea relations

(Central News Agency reporter Zhang Shuling, Beijing 8th) Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping visited North Korea today and held talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Xi said they should promote greater development of bilateral relations and make positive contributions to regional and world peace, stability, development, and prosperity, emphasizing firm support for North Korea under Kim Jong Un's leadership.

According to Xinhua News Agency, Chinese Communist Party General Secretary and President Xi Jinping held talks with Korean Workers' Party General Secretary and North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong Un at the Kumsusan Guesthouse in Pyongyang on the 8th.

This is Xi's first visit to North Korea in seven years and his first overseas trip this year. Their last meeting was in September 2025 in Beijing, during the military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

Xi said he hopes to use this visit as an opportunity to strengthen the top-level design and strategic guidance for China-North Korea relations in the new era, promote greater development of bilateral relations, better benefit the two countries and their peoples, and make positive contributions to regional and world peace, stability, development, and prosperity.

Xi declared that "generations of friendship, shared destiny, and mutual assistance" have always been the "distinctive feature" of China-North Korea relations. No matter how the international situation changes, the Chinese Party and government's firm stance on valuing China-North Korea traditional friendship will not change, their firm support for North Korea's socialist cause under Kim Jong Un's leadership will not change, and their firm determination to safeguard the common interests and good strategic environment of both sides will not change.

Xi put forward four points for developing bilateral relations. These include strengthening exchanges in diplomacy, law enforcement, and the military; expanding practical cooperation in trade, agriculture, construction, science and technology, and healthcare; and taking the full reopening of border crossings and the resumption of civil aviation flights and international passenger trains as opportunities to expand people-to-people exchanges.

Xi also stated that Asia is the "place of settlement and livelihood" for China, North Korea, and other regional countries. The two countries "should strengthen strategic coordination and cooperation," firmly defend each other's sovereignty, security, and development interests, and jointly maintain regional peace and development.

According to Xinhua, Kim Jong Un expressed the most solemn and warm welcome for Xi's visit after seven years. He said the visit once again clearly demonstrates how unbreakable the North Korea-China relationship is, which has stood the test of time and has always been on the historically correct side of independence and justice.

Kim also said that in recent years, the international community has been undergoing unprecedented great changes. North Korea will always adhere to the "One China Principle" and firmly support China's policies and positions in safeguarding its core interests. He said North Korea will make developing relations with China its most important primary strategic undertaking, do its utmost to build North Korea-China relations into a model for state-to-state relations, and jointly contribute to regional and world peace and prosperity.

North Korea has rapidly expanded its nuclear arsenal in recent years and deepened its alliance with Russia. Observers are watching to see if China wants to use this visit to reaffirm its influence over North Korea, which is increasingly leaning toward Russia. Kim Jong Un is expected to maintain a balance between China and Russia, using his increasingly close ties with Russia to seek economic concessions from Beijing. (Editor: Qiu Guoqiang) 1150608