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News > World

Kim Jong-un Makes 3rd Trip to China Since March

  • North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L), pictured with Xi Jinping, will make a three-day China trip.

    North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L), pictured with Xi Jinping, will make a three-day China trip. | Photo: Reuters

Published 19 June 2018
Opinion

The state media said Kim Jong-un will be in China on Tuesday and Wednesday but did not disclose any further details relating to the nature of Kim's trip to Beijing.

Chinese state television announced that North Korea leader Kim Jong-un is visiting the country for a two-day trip, starting Tuesday.

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The airplane carrying Kim landed at Beijing early Tuesday followed by increased security, on various roads, ahead of a motorcade. This marks the North Korean leader's third visit to China this year.

The state media did not disclose any further details relating to the nature of Kim's trip to Beijing – a major ally of Pyongyang. Specific talking points or location of the meeting between Kim and President Xi Jinping remain unknown, but the duo previously met in Beijing and Dalian.

Xinhua was forced to confirm the trip following multiple reports stating that a North Korean state-run Air Koryo flight was expected to land in the Chinese capital. Previous visits were not disclosed beforehand.

“Kim Jong-un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, visits China from June 19 to 20,” Xinhua said. China, North Korea's biggest trading partner, could likely discuss the stern United Nations-imposed sanctions pending Kim disbanding weapons program.

Kim is making the trip after a whirlwind summit – one week ago – with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore. The trip comes in the midst of a trade war between the United States and China. The U.S. president previously insinuated that Xi “could be influencing” Kim.

However, in a joint declaration inked in Singapore, Trump and Kim pledged to move ahead with peace and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. On Tuesday, Washington and Seoul confirmed that the August Ulchi Freedom Guardian military exercises would be canceled.

On Monday, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said sanctions could start to be eased as soon as North Korea had made “substantive steps towards denuclearization.”

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