Chinese leader Xi arrives in North Korea for closely watched talks with Kim

SEOUL, South Korea, June 8, (AP): Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang on Monday for a rare state visit that experts say is likely meant to reassert China’s unique influence over North Korea in return for providing economic and political benefits. China’s Xinhua News Agency reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju welcomed Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan upon their arrival at Pyongyang’s international airport.

Xinhua said the two leaders shook hands. Xi later arrived at Pyongyang’s main square, where a military honor guard and thousands of people, including children carrying balloons and hopping, staged a welcoming ceremony. Buildings surrounding the plaza were draped in the two countries’ flags, giant portraits of Kim and Xi and red-and-yellow banners welcoming the Chinese leader and celebrating the nations’ "friendship and unity.”

During a two-day trip, his first visit to North Korea in seven years, Xi is expected to hold a summit with Kim. It will be their first meeting since September, when they met in Beijing after viewing a military parade alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin and other foreign leaders. No specific agenda has been mentioned.

Foreign experts predict the meeting will have big ramifications on bilateral ties and beyond, as they both seek to fully restore their traditional alliance in the face of separate confrontations with the US. "A Chinese leader doesn’t just visit North Korea because a visit is due. Xi’s trip will have real implications for China-DPRK relations,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s full name. Xi’s trip comes after his back-to-back summits with US President Donald Trump and Putin in Beijing last month.

Xi is expected to meet Trump again on a planned US visit in September. Xi will try to demonstrate China’s "sway over the Korean Peninsula” and "a leadership role in entire Northeast Asia in the ages of strategic competitions with the US,” said Kwak Gil Sup, the head of One Korea Center, a website specializing in North Korea affairs.

China has long been North Korea's economic lifeline and main diplomatic backer. Experts say China has avoided fully enforcing UN sanctions on North Korea and sent clandestine aid to help its impoverished neighbor stay afloat.

This year marks 65 years since the two countries signed a mutual defense treaty. But there have been questions about their ties in recent years, with North Korea prioritizing cooperation with Russia by supplying troops and weapons to support its war against Ukraine. In return, North Korea has received economic and military assistance from Russia.