North Korea’s Kim asked Xi to help lift sanctions

China’s president vowed to do his ‘utmost’ to satisfy Kim’s request, Japanese paper says

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has appealed to China’s Xi Jinping to help end sanctions against Pyongyang following his landmark summit with US President Donald Trump, a Japanese newspaper reported on Sunday, citing multiple unnamed sources in the two countries.

Kim made the request during his third meeting with Xi in Beijing last month, and the Chinese president promised to do his “utmost” to satisfy it, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

“We are feeling great pain due to economic sanctions. Now that we have concluded the US-North Korea summit in success, I want [China] to work toward early lifting of the sanctions,” Kim reportedly told Xi.

China indicated last year that the UN Security Council could consider easing the sanctions against Pyongyang.