Xi Jinping accepts offer to visit Pyongyang, North Korea state media says
- Report follows leader Kim Jong-un’s visit to China, during which he held talks with Xi
- Beijing says it supports North Korea and US holding summits and ‘hopes they will meet halfway’, but makes no mention of Xi’s trip
Chinese President Xi Jinping accepted an offer to visit Pyongyang after meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Beijing this week, according to state media in the hermit nation.
Beijing, however, has yet to confirm the trip, which some analysts said was possibly because it did not want to increase tensions with the United States.
“Xi accepted the offer [to visit Pyongyang] with pleasure and informed Kim of the plan,” the Korean Central News Agency reported on Thursday, without providing further details.
At a press briefing, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang neither confirmed nor denied the KCNA report but said Beijing would “announce [Xi’s visit to Pyongyang] immediately if there is news”.
North Korea has made repeated invitations for Xi to visit, including in September – as relations between the two countries were warming – to attend its national day celebrations.
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said in October that Xi was expected to visit Pyongyang “soon”.
While Kim’s visit to Beijing was his fourth since taking over as leader in 2011 – his previous three came in the space of three months last year – Xi, who was elected president in 2013, has yet to reciprocate.
