China's Xi Jinping to make rare visit to North Korea

The North Koreans barely acknowledged the South Korean public who showed up to welcomed them at the airport and the stadium. They coldly shook hands with the South Korean players before the match then followed with rough and aggressive play.South Korea's minister of unification Chung Dong-young said he believes Xi will discuss resuming the US-North Korea talks with Kim.While Beijing is a long-standing promoter of denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, echoing international calls for North Korea's disarmament, it has significantly toned down this position in recent years.During the Trump-Xi meeting last month, the two leaders reaffirmed the shared goal of denuclearising North Korea, according to a White House fact sheet of the meeting. But when asked about this at a press briefing, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson did not directly confirm the agreement, instead saying China's position on the issue has maintained "continuity and consistency".Pyongyang, for its part, has made it clear that it will not steer away from its nuclear ambitions.Just this week, Kim said North Korea's "weapons-grade nuclear materials production capacity more than doubled" in the past five years, as he toured a new nuclear facility, state media reported.