High-ranking Chinese diplomat to visit N. Korea

BEIJING — China said Wednesday that a high-ranking diplomat plans to travel to Pyongyang later this week amid a flurry of diplomacy following North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s surprise visit to Beijing.

Song Tao, who heads the ruling Communist Party’s International Department, will lead an art troupe to Pyongyang on Friday to attend an arts festival, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters at a regularly scheduled briefing.

Following Kim’s visit to Beijing, the trip “serves as an important cultural exchange activity to implement the significant consensuses reached by the top leaders,” Geng said.