Xi Jinping to Visit North Korea, Meet Kim Jong Un on 8-9 June

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will visit North Korea next week, according to Chinese state media on Friday (5/6/2026). The visit marks Xi Jinping’s first trip to Pyongyang in seven years, reportedly at the invitation of Kim Jong Un. “At the invitation of Kim Jong Un… Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and President of the People’s Republic of China, will pay a state visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from 8 to 9 June,” said state broadcaster CCTV. China is a vital source of diplomatic and political support for Pyongyang, one of the world’s most isolated nations, which is under heavy international sanctions. Although relations between the two countries are very close, visits by Chinese presidents to North Korea are rare. Xi last visited Pyongyang in 2019, the first such trip since President Hu Jintao travelled there in 2005. Xi hosted Kim with great fanfare in Beijing in September, inviting him and Russian President Vladimir Putin as guests of honour at a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the victory over Japan in World War II. North Korea’s state news agency, KCNA, confirmed the visit, though no further details have been elaborated.