Xi Jinping to meet Kim Jong Un in rare visit to North Korea

The Context of Xi Jinping's Upcoming Trip

China's president Xi Jinping will meet Kim Jong Un next week in a trip to North Korea, in his first visit in nearly seven years, according to both countries' state media. Xi will be in North Korea from 8 to 9 June at Kim's invitation. Xi last visited Pyongyang in 2019. The visit comes weeks after Xi received US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing - two countries that loom large over Pyongyang's foreign policy.

China's Enduring Economic and Security Partnership

China is a key economic and political partner of North Korea, which faces sweeping international sanctions as a result of its nuclear weapons programme and alleged human rights violations. China and North Korea share a 1,400km-long border and are bound by a defence pact - the only one China has with any country. It guarantees mutual support if either is attacked. This year marks the 65th anniversary of that treaty. Beijing remains the main lifeline for Kim as Pyongyang's largest trading partner, and it is widely expected that Kim will seek more trade over the land border and more Chinese tourists to fill its newly built beach and ski resorts.

North Korea's Domestic and Propaganda Priorities

For Kim, the propaganda value of Xi's visit is self-evident. North Korea had improved its standing on the world stage after withstanding the pandemic and entering the war in Ukraine on the side of Russia. Kim has been proudly displaying his nuclear and missile arsenal. He has also been showing off the capital Pyongyang to visiting dignitaries. And he wants the world to know that it was all achieved without bending his knee to the US or engaging with the South. Since Kim declared the end to reunification efforts with the South in December 2024, he had called South Koreans a sworn enemy and had cut all levels of communication with Seoul. Seoul's attempts at rapprochement appears to have not resonated with Pyongyang.

Beijing's Cautious Stance on the Russia-North Korea Axis

Despite Beijing's close ties with both Pyongyang and Moscow, Xi is wary of the burgeoning alliance between Kim and Putin. The visit occurs against the backdrop of recent high-level engagements in Beijing involving both Washington and Moscow, underscoring how these powers shape Pyongyang's foreign policy calculations. China continues to serve as the primary economic anchor even as Kim strengthens ties elsewhere, reflecting Beijing's interest in maintaining leverage without endorsing every development in the Russia-North Korea relationship.

Regional Dynamics and South Korea's Mediation Hopes

When the North Korean women's professional football team visited South Korea last month to face a South Korean football team, the freeze-out was in full display. 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. Seoul is hoping Xi will play a mediator in this trip, nudging Pyongyang to resume dialogue with both Seoul and Washington. South Korea's minister of unification Chung Dong-young said he believes that during Xi's meeting with Kim he will discuss resuming the US-North Korea talks.

Nuclear Developments and the Denuclearisation Question

North Korea's sanctioned nuclear weapons programme may also be on the table. While Beijing is a long-standing promoter of denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, 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.

Strategic Calculus and Broader Implications

This engagement aligns with China's broader objectives of technological self-sufficiency and regional influence expansion through stable border relations and multilateral engagement. Each side seeks to consolidate leverage: Beijing aims to preserve its role as the indispensable partner while managing second-order effects on ASEAN stability and Global South perceptions of great-power competition. The defence pact's anniversary provides symbolic reinforcement of mutual commitments without altering the fundamental balance of economic dependence that defines the relationship.