Japanese Media Quickly Reports on Xi Jinping's State Visit to North Korea: "Improving Ties Between North Korea and China"

Japanese media outlets quickly reported on June 5 that Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to North Korea on the 8th for the first time in seven years, showing keen interest in the improvement of North Korea-China relations.

Kyodo News, NHK, and others reported in unison that both Chinese and North Korean media announced the news of President Xi's state visit to North Korea from June 8 to 9.

The International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China announced on June 5 that President Xi will pay a state visit to North Korea from June 8 to 9 at the invitation of Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and President of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea.

Kyodo News noted that President Xi recently met with U.S. President Donald Trump and held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The agency predicted that President Xi and Chairman Kim are likely to seek to strengthen cooperation with the U.S. relationship in mind.

The Yomiuri Shimbun analyzed that while China may have been uncomfortable with North Korea's deepening ties with Russia through the deployment of troops to the war in Ukraine, there has been a trend toward improving relations since Chairman Kim visited China in early September last year to attend the 80th anniversary of China's Victory Day and held talks with President Xi.

The Yomiuri added that this year marks the 65th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance Between the People's Republic of China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which stipulates China's automatic intervention in the event of a contingency on the Korean Peninsula, and that high-level exchanges between the two countries have been strengthening, such as Chairman Kim's meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Pyongyang last April.

(Photo: Screen capture from Korean Central Television, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.