China’s Xi may visit North Korea as early as next week, Yonhap reports
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Chinese President Xi Jinping will try to act as a mediator between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
PHOTO: REUTERS
SEOUL – Chinese President Xi Jinping may visit North Korea as early as next week, and will try to act as a mediator between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, quoting a senior government official.
Another government source was cited by Yonhap as saying a team of Chinese security service and protocol officials were in Pyongyang recently and that a visit by Mr Xi late in May or early June was likely.
Mr Xi, who hosted US President Donald Trump last week, will try to act as a mediator between Mr Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the senior official was quoted as saying in the report released late on May 20.
Mr Trump, who met Mr Kim three times in his first term to negotiate the North’s nuclear programme, has said he would be open to meeting the North Korean leader again and that he had a good relationship with him.
South Korea’s foreign ministry said the government hopes exchanges between North Korea and China contribute to peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and that China can play a constructive role, while declining to comment directly on the report of Mr Xi’s visit.
China is a key economic and political ally of North Korea and the two have made efforts to reinforce ties that had cooled during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Kim visited Beijing in 2025 and stood alongside Mr Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a major military parade. REUTERS
