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Chinese President Xi Jinping landed in Pyongyang on Monday for a two-day visit, his first to North Korea since 2019.
North Korea leader Kim Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol-ju gave Xi and first lady Peng Liyuan a warm welcome at the airport, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Xi was later given a grand welcome ceremony at Kim Il-sung Square. As the largest public square in the heart of Pyongyang, it serves as North Korea’s primary venue for massive military parades, state rallies and major political celebrations.
Kim and Ri accompanied Xi and Peng to Kumsusan State Guest House, where Xi and Peng are staying during the visit.
Xi’s top aide Cai Qi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi accompanied Xi on the visit, his first overseas trip this year.
Earlier CCTV footage showed a red carpet was rolled out at the airport with honour guard standing alongside. Two Korean children holding flowers were waiting to present flower bouquets.
Both countries’ national flags adorned Pyongyang streets, as did banners bearing messages such as “Long live the unbreakable friendship between DPRK and China”, referring to North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
In an article on Monday published by Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Xi said the combat friendship “forged in blood” and comradely bond of mutual trust between the two countries stood the test of time and the changing international landscape.
Xi pledged to deepen strategic communication and interact frequently “like relatives”, including between the parties, governments and militaries.
“Standing at a new historical starting point … China is willing to work with the DPRK to take the bilateral relationship to a strategic height and promote its greater development in keeping with the times,” he wrote.
The state visit is seen as a reciprocal gesture after Kim travelled to Beijing in September last year to attend a massive military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The ceremony saw Xi, Kim and their Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin standing side by side in Tiananmen Square in what was widely regarded as a rare display of solidarity among the three countries amid mounting pressure from the United States and its allies.
Xi’s trip follows his back-to-back summits with Putin and US President Donald Trump in Beijing last month.
While China and the US are trying to build what Xi described as “a constructive relationship of strategic stability”, North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme appears to be a major stumbling block.
Before Xi’s arrival, Kim visited a newly operational nuclear production facility on Wednesday, when he said expanding the country’s “nuclear war deterrence … is becoming even more prominent”, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
On Sunday, Kim’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, slammed the US call for denuclearisation as an “anachronistic dream” and said the nuclear weapons programme was “irreversible”.
North Korea’s nuclear arsenal has been cited by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government as a reason for accelerating its efforts to build up the country’s armed forces, a move China has condemned as a form of “new militarism”.
Meanwhile, China has sought to court South Korea as tensions with Japan escalate, as Pyongyang’s missile tests this year have caused alarm in Seoul.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has called on Beijing to use its influence to help revive deadlocked negotiations with Pyongyang.
During his trip, Xi “will exchange views on bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest” with Kim, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
“The visit will be an opportunity for the two sides to work together to further advance bilateral ties in keeping with the times,” ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a press conference on Friday.
Mao also said this year marked the 65th anniversary of the two countries’ Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance.
The treaty is the only formal defence pact China has with any country. North Korea signed a similar one with Russia in June 2024, a move that could reduce its dependence on Beijing.
Observers have argued that the deepening security ties between Moscow and Pyongyang – both subject to heavy international sanctions – could make China uneasy by increasing geopolitical risks along its borders.
However, Russia and China said they opposed threats to “the security of [North Korea] through diplomatic isolation, economic sanctions and military pressure” in a joint statement issued after the Xi-Putin summit.
They also pledged to work together to resolve the question of the Korean peninsula, but did not mention denuclearisation.
The Chinese statement issued after Trump’s visit likewise made no reference to the matter, but the White House said the two leaders had “confirmed their shared goal to denuclearise North Korea”.
Xi’s visit this week builds on a string of high-level exchanges with North Korea in recent months, including trips to Pyongyang by Wang in April and Premier Li Qiang in October last year. Both met Kim.
On Friday, Xinhua reported that Xi mentioned his 2019 visit when he met Kim in Beijing in September last year, saying “wherever I went, I could feel the strong atmosphere of China and the DPRK being as close as one family”.
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