Xi to Make State Visit to North Korea on June 8-9, His First Trip to Pyongyang Since 2019

Chinese President Xi Jinping will make a state visit to North Korea on June 8-9 at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to announcements by both countries, marking Xi’s first trip to Pyongyang since 2019.

North Korean state media KCNA reported that Xi “will pay a state visit” to North Korea at Kim’s invitation. China separately confirmed the trip, with Xinhua citing a spokesperson for the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee as saying Xi will visit on June 8-9. Both sides described the trip as a state visit.

The announcement returns top-level China-North Korea diplomacy to the foreground at a sensitive moment, as Pyongyang has been drawing closer to Russia and publicly highlighting its nuclear program. No official agenda for the visit has been released.

Xi last visited North Korea on June 20-21, 2019, making next week’s trip his first visit to the country in seven years. Xi and Kim last met in Beijing in September 2025, when Kim attended China’s Victory Day parade.

The timing also follows Xi’s meetings in Beijing in May with U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. As brief backdrop to Pyongyang’s recent alignment with Moscow, North Korean troops marched in Russia’s May 9, 2026, Victory Day parade.

The visit announcement came one day after North Korea unveiled a newly inaugurated “nuclear materials production factory.” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, the South’s military command, assessed the facility as a uranium-enrichment site.

That disclosure drew added attention because North Korea remains under U.N. sanctions tied to its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. The back-to-back developments underscore the security tensions surrounding the Korean Peninsula even as Beijing and Pyongyang revive leader-level exchanges.

Analysts cited by The Associated Press said the visit also reflects Beijing’s interest in preserving its role with Pyongyang as North Korea’s relationship with Russia expands. “As North Korea builds closer ties with Russia, China seeks to use Xi’s trip to reassert its influence over Pyongyang and safeguard its strategic interests in northeast Asia,” William Yang of the International Crisis Group told AP.

Beyond the dates and the fact of the state visit, neither side has announced what Xi and Kim will discuss or any expected outcomes.