BEIJING: China has announced that North Korea’s top diplomat will visit the country this weekend.
North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui will visit China from Saturday, September 27, until next Tuesday, September 30.
A Chinese foreign ministry statement on Thursday confirmed the visit “following an invitation from Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi”.
The diplomatic visit comes just weeks after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended a huge military parade in Beijing.
Earlier this month, Kim told Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing that it was his “steadfast will” to “steadily develop” bilateral relations.
Kim was on a rare foreign visit to China, his most important ally, joining Russia’s Vladimir Putin alongside Xi at a massive military parade.
The parade commemorated the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The reclusive leader also affirmed the “friendly feelings” between the two countries, according to Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency.
China’s relationship with North Korea was forged in the bloodshed of the Korean War in the 1950s.
Beijing remains a vital source of diplomatic, economic and political support for the isolated nuclear state.
But Pyongyang has been moving closer to Russia recently, with the two countries signing a mutual defence agreement last year.
North Korean soldiers are also fighting in the Ukraine war, according to reports.
Kim said Pyongyang will “invariably support and encourage the stand and efforts” of China to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interests.
Xi told Kim the two countries should strengthen coordination on international affairs and “safeguard their common interests”.
Choe was seen alongside Kim in pictures released by KCNA ahead of his train ride from Pyongyang to Beijing.
The images showed the North Korean leader smoking a cigarette outside a carriage and grinning inside his lavish, wood-lined car.
The train car interior featured a national flag and emblem prominently displayed. – AFP
