Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in North Korea for closely watched talks with Kim

Published 8 June 2026 · politics

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang on Monday (June 8, 2026) for a rare state visit that experts say is likely meant to reassert

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang on Monday (June 8, 2026) for a rare state visit that experts say is likely meant to reassert China’s unique influence over North Korea in return for providing economic and political benefits. During a two-day trip, his first visit to North Korea in seven years, Mr. Xi is to meet leader Kim Jong Un. It will be their first summit since September, when they met in Beijing after viewing a military parade alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin and other foreign leaders. China’s official Xinhua news agency reported that Mr. Xi had arrived in Pyongyang, after earlier reporting that Mr. Xi’s entourage includes his wife Peng Liyuan and top officials including Foreign Minister Wang Yi and top Communist Party official Cai Qi. No specific agenda has been mentioned. Foreign experts predict the meeting will have big ramifications on bilateral ties and beyond, as they both seek to fully restore their traditional alliance in the face of separate confrontations with the U.S. “A Chinese leader doesn’t just visit North Korea because a visit is due. Mr. Xi’s trip will have real implications for China-DPRK relations,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s full name. Xi’s trip comes after his back-to-back summits with U.S. President Donald Trump and Putin in Beijing last month.

Xi is expected to meet Trump again on a planned U.S. visit in September. Xi will try to demonstrate China’s “sway over the Korean Peninsula” and “a leadership role in entire Northeast Asia in the ages of strategic competitions with the U.S.,” said Kwak Gil Sup, the head of One Korea Center, a website specializing in North Korea affairs. China has long been North Korea’s economic lifeline and main diplomatic backer. Experts say China has avoided fully enforcing U.N. sanctions on North Korea and sent clandestine aid to help its impoverished neighbor stay afloat. This year marks 65 years since the two countries signed a mutual defense treaty. But there have been questions about their ties in recent years, with North Korea prioritizing cooperation with Russia by supplying troops and weapons to support its war against Ukraine. In return, North Korea has received economic and military assistance from Russia. Restoring an exclusive influence over North Korea would give Mr. Xi a leverage in dealings with Mr. Trump, who has repeatedly expressed his desire to restart diplomacy with Kim, experts say. “Implementing U.N. Security Council resolutions and enforcing sanctions do not appear to be priorities for China,” Easley said. In an article published on the North’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Monday (June 8, 2026), Mr. Xi said China and North Korea must boost strategic cooperation and work together to oppose “hegemonism and coercive politics” and pursue an orderly multipolar world.