What to know about a rare visit by China’s Xi to North Korea for talks with Kim Jong Un

What to know about a rare visit by China’s Xi to North Korea for talks with Kim Jong Un 0 seconds of 1 minute, 16 secondsVolume 0% Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts Keyboard ShortcutsEnabledDisabled Shortcuts Open/Close/ or ? Play/PauseSPACE Increase Volume↑ Decrease Volume↓ Seek Forward→ Seek Backward← Captions On/Offc Fullscreen/Exit Fullscreenf Mute/Unmutem Decrease Caption Size- Increase Caption Size+ or = Seek %0-9 Next Up What to know about the Chinese President visiting North Korea 00:57 Subtitle Settings OffEnglish(US)_v Font Color White Font Opacity 100% Font Size 100% Font Family Arial Character Edge None Edge Color Black Background Color Black Background Opacity 50% Window Color Black Window Opacity 0% Reset WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25% 200%175%150%125%100%75%50% ArialCourierGeorgiaImpactLucida ConsoleTahomaTimes New RomanTrebuchet MSVerdana NoneRaisedDepressedUniformDrop Shadow WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25%0% WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25%0% 00:00 01:16 01:16 More Videos 00:57 What to know about the Chinese President visiting North Korea 01:37 Armenia prepares for an election that could reshape ties with Moscow and the West 01:13 Putin says Russia will bolster its air defenses in response to Ukrainian drone attacks 01:21 Buffalo named Donald Trump because of its golden locks delights crowds in Bangladesh 00:57 Traders face big losses after Uganda closes Congo border over Ebola contagion fears 01:03 Iran soccer players step up preparations ahead of World Cup 00:48 Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang calls on Korean gaming superstar Faker during Seoul visit 00:13 Pope Leo XIV confirms he will root for the U.S. in the upcoming soccer World Cup Close 1 of 6 | Chinese leader Xi-jinping" class="entity-link entity-person" data-entity-id="1188" data-entity-type="person">Xi Jinping will travel to North Korea next week, both countries have announced, in what will be his first visit in nearly seven years. His trip will be the latest in a series of steps by China to reinforce its close ties with its nuclear-armed neighbor. 2 of 6 | Chinese President Xi-jinping" class="entity-link entity-person" data-entity-id="1188" data-entity-type="person">Xi Jinping walks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, to a reception following a military parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrender held in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar, File) 3 of 6 | Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi-jinping" class="entity-link entity-person" data-entity-id="1188" data-entity-type="person">Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are seen on a screen as military personnel take part in a military parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrender held in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File) 4 of 6 | People watch a large screen showing an image of Chinese President Xi-jinping" class="entity-link entity-person" data-entity-id="1188" data-entity-type="person">Xi Jinping, left, meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Pyongyang Railway Station in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, June 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin, File) 5 of 6 | Russian, left, and North Korea’s servicemen attend the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Saturday, May 9, 2026, during celebrations of the 81st anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany during the World War II. (Maxim Shipenkov/Pool Photo via AP, File) 6 of 6 | North Korea’s servicemen attend the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Saturday, May 9, 2026, during celebrations of the 81st anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany during the World War II. (Maxim Shipenkov/Pool Photo via AP, File) By Kim TONG-HYUNG and HUIZHONG WU Updated 6:11 AM MESZ, June 7, 2026 Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — China’s Xi-jinping" class="entity-link entity-person" data-entity-id="1188" data-entity-type="person">Xi Jinping is traveling to North Korea for the first time in nearly seven years in a trip that offers North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a stage to showcase an increasingly assertive foreign policy anchored by closer ties with his country’s former Cold War allies. China, the North’s economic pipeline, is expected to reassert its influence over a traditionally allied government that has grown closer to Russia in recent times. The meeting between the two leaders is their first since Kim traveled to Beijing for a World War II event in September 2025. Here is a look at what they may be seeking from their upcoming meeting: After years of prioritizing Russia — dispatching thousands of troops and munitions to support Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine — North Korea’s leader is now seeking stronger ties with China to break further out of isolation, embracing the idea of a “new Cold War” and projecting Pyongyang as part of a united front against Washington. Since the era of its previous leaders, North Korea has long maintained an “equidistance” approach toward Beijing and Moscow, playing its two main benefactors against each other to maximize its gains. While he is receiving crucial support from Russia for backing its war effort, likely including military technologies and aid, Kim cannot fulfil his promise to improve the living standards of his populace without greater economic assistance from China, according to Koh Yu-hwan, a former president of Seoul’s Institute of National Unification. North Korean leader Kim backs China's push for ‘multipolar world’ in talks with foreign minister Chinese leader Xi-jinping" class="entity-link entity-person" data-entity-id="1188" data-entity-type="person">Xi Jinping will travel to North Korea next week in first visit since 2019 North Korea and China agree to deepen cooperation in talks between foreign ministers “North Korea vows to maintain a self-reliant economic system and focus on advancing its nuclear capabilities, but in reality it’s nearly impossible to raise living standards by mobilizing internal resources alone,” Koh said. The Kim-Xi meeting could include discussions on resuming Chinese tourism to North Korea and opening a bridge over the Yalu River that has remained unused years after its completion, Koh said. The leaders could also discuss joint economic development projects in border regions shared by North Korea, China and Russia. It remains to be seen whether Kim at some point will use his increased diplomatic footing to reengage with Washington after his talks with U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019 over disagreements about sanctions on North Korea. Pyongyang has so far rebuffed Trump’s offers to resume talks after the American president entered his second term, insisting that Washington first drop its demand for North Korea’s denuclearization as a precondition for negotiations. Kim also met Xi before traveling to Singapore and Vietnam for his summits with Trump in 2018 and 2019, moves widely interpreted as efforts to bolster his bargaining position. “From North Korea’s perspective, there’s belief that having China’s backing provides a sense of security and confidence when seeking to improve relations with the United States,” said Park Won Gon, a professor at Seoul’s Ewha University. For China, the visit is a chance to bring back a traditional ally closer into its orbit, by offering possible economic incentives and food aid, traditional assets it has given to North Korea. “I think the Chinese are privately a little uneasy at the embrace of Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, that the North Koreans have really gravitated towards very heavily towards the Russians. Part of Xi-jinping" class="entity-link entity-person" data-entity-id="1188" data-entity-type="person">Xi Jinping’s goal is to correct the balance,” said Mike Chinoy, a former CNN journalist and author of an upcoming book about the insular country. Xi is making his first overseas trip in 2026 after become increasingly selective about making state visits since the pandemic. Coming on the heels of separately hosting both Trump and Putin, the choice is strategic. “The trip ensures no one can reshape the peninsula’s security architecture without his concurrence,” Seong-Hyon Lee, a senior fellow at the George H.W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations, said. Beijing is also realistic in response to Kim’s clear nuclear ambitions. In April, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Pyongyang and met with Kim. Observers noted the absence of the word “denuclearization” from the statement on the visit, a departure from the standard line that China usually deploys which calls for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. “The most telling sign of the visit may be a silence: if China’s official readout omits the word ‘denuclearization,’ Beijing has effectively accepted North Korea as a nuclear state, folding the issue into its broader buffer strategy against the U.S.,” said Lee. In exchange, China could seek greater access to the estuary of the Tumen River, which forms part of the border between the two countries, and navigational rights in waters off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast. Ultimately Kim is likely to give Xi a grand and lavish welcome at the symbolic level, but China may not be able to extract much from an increasingly confident Kim, experts say. “He’s going to give Xi-jinping" class="entity-link entity-person" data-entity-id="1188" data-entity-type="person">Xi Jinping a welcome befitting of the head of state of their giant neighbor, but he’s not going to play the pliant ‘little brother,’” said Chinoy. __ Wu reported from Bangkok. Kim TONG-HYUNG Kim has been covering the Koreas for the AP since 2014. He has published widely read stories on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, the dark side of South Korea’s economic rise and international adoptions of Korean children. twitter mailto HUIZHONG WU Wu covers Chinese culture, society, and politics for The Associated Press, as well as the country’s growing overseas influence from Bangkok. She was previously based in Taiwan and China. twitter