Xi to make two-day state visit to DPRK

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president, will make a two-day state visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea starting on Monday, a spokesperson for the International Department of the CPC Central Committee has announced.

The visit, at the invitation of Kim Jong-un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, will be Xi's first state visit to the neighboring country in seven years, following his historic trip there in June 2019.

In Pyongyang next week, the top leaders of the two parties and two countries will exchange views on bilateral relations and issues of mutual interests, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Friday.

"In recent years, under the strategic guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping and General Secretary Kim Jong-un, the traditional friendly cooperative relationship between China and the DPRK has maintained sound and steady growth and delivered tangible benefits for both countries and peoples," Mao said at a regular news briefing in Beijing.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the signing of the China-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance.

Mao said the two sides will take the visit as an opportunity to promote bilateral relations to keep pace with the times and achieve greater development, enhance the well-being of the peoples of the two countries, and make greater contributions to peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region and the world at large.

China and the DPRK established diplomatic relations on Oct 6, 1949, making the DPRK one of the first countries to establish such ties with the People's Republic of China.

High-level exchanges have always played the most important guiding and driving role in China-DPRK relations. The last meeting between Xi and Kim took place in Beijing in September last year, when Kim visited China to attend the commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) and the World Anti-Fascist War.

During their talks, Xi recalled his 2019 state visit to the DPRK, saying that wherever he went, he felt a strong atmosphere of China and the DPRK being as close as one family. He added that the solemn China-DPRK Friendship Tower, the spectacular grand mass gymnastics performance and the warm-hearted DPRK people all left a deep impression on him.