China’s Xi Jinping will make first visit as president to North Korea ‘soon’, says South Korean leader
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in announces Chinese leader’s visit as diplomatic efforts to reach peace deal on peninsula continue with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to region
Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit North Korea “soon”, according to Seoul.
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in told a cabinet meeting about Xi’s visit on Monday without disclosing further information.
He was speaking as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s tour of the region continued, including a meeting with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un over the weekend.
Xi has not visited North Korea since coming to power in 2013 although he sent Li Zhanshu, Beijing’s third-ranking Communist Party official, to Pyongyang last month for North Korea’s 70th anniversary celebrations. Xi visited North Korea in 2008, when he was China’s vice-president.
Moon also said he expected Kim to visit Russia, adding that a North Korea-Japan summit was also possible.
On Friday, Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of the Russian senate, visited South Korea and told senior officials that talks about the details of Kim’s visit were underway.
“A new order is being created on the Korean peninsula, and that new order will lead to a new order in northeast Asia,” Moon said, noting that the ongoing talks between the various parties were essential for the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and the establishment of permanent peace.