Kim Jong Un visits China in advance of U.S. summit
BEIJING — The Chinese government confirmed that North Korea’s reclusive leader Kim Jong Un went to Beijing and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in his first known trip to a foreign country since he took power in 2011.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Kim made an unofficial visit to China from Sunday to today.
Xi held talks with Kim at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and he and his wife, Peng Liyuan, hosted a banquet for Kim and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, Xinhua said. They also watched an art performance together, the news agency said.
Analysts say Kim would have felt a need to consult with his country’s traditional ally ahead of his planned meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Trump.
The North’s diplomatic outreach came after an unusually provocative year when it conducted its most powerful nuclear test to date and three ICBMs tests designed to target the U.S. mainland.
The developments were interpreted as the North being desperate to break out of isolation and improve its economy after being squeezed by heavy sanctions.
China remains North Korea’s only major ally and chief provider of energy, aid and trade that keep the country’s broken economy afloat.
The visit to China marks Kim’s first known trip since taking power in 2011 and his reported meeting with Xi was his first meeting with a foreign head of state.
Kim’s father, late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, visited China several times during his rule, lastly in May 2011, months before his death.
Past visits by Kim Jong Il to China were surrounded in secrecy, with Beijing only confirming his presence after he had crossed the border by train back into North Korea. On Monday, heavy security was reported at the Friendship Bridge on the Yalu River marking the border between China and North Korea before a train passed through the Chinese city of Dandong. There were reports of it transiting several stations on the way from North Korea to Beijing.
Japanese broadcaster NTV reported that the green and yellow train appeared very similar to the one that Kim’s father and predecessor as North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Il, took to Beijing in 2011.
Video that aired on NTV also showed a motorcade of black limousines waiting at the train station and rows of Chinese soldiers marching on what appeared to be a train platform. The video did not show anyone getting off the train.