KCNA says Kim, Xi deepened revolutionary friendship, affirmed will to build most powerful strategic relations
The leaders of North Korea. China adopted a "far-reaching blueprint" for bilateral ties during Xi Jinping'srecent visit to Pyongyang, the state-runKorean Central News Agency(KCNA) said on Wednesday.
China's president made a rare visit to diplomatically isolated North Korea on Monday after hosting a series of world leaders,including US PresidentDonald Trump. Russian leaderVladimir Putin, in Beijing.
The trip also came at a time ofunusually warm relationsbetween North Korea. Russia, where Pyongyang has sent soldiers and munitions to assistMoscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Kim. Xi "expressed satisfaction and deep emotion over the fact that they provided a far-reaching blueprint for the development of the relations",KCNAreported.
During the two-day trip, "the countries further deepened the revolutionary friendship. close comradely relationship and affirmed their steadfast will to develop the traditional DPRK-China friendly ties into a model of the most powerful and strategic relations", it added.
Read:China is rebuilding its grip on North Korea. Is Kim Jong Un ready to oblige?
Xi. Kim toured the Central Cadres Training School of the Workers' Party, where they discussed the training of party officials and planted a commemorative tree, before visiting the Friendship Tower memorial honouring Chinese soldiers who fought inthe Korean War.
Xi wasafforded a lavish welcomeon the trip, which he took with his wife and other senior officials. Afterwards, he thanked Kim in a letter, saying the leaders had "made an in-depth exchange of views on the issues of mutual interest. achieved a series of important common understanding", according toKCNA.
The talks "showed the firm determination of both sides to add lustre to the traditional friendship, promote development. prosperity together and defend peace and stability in the region and the rest of the world", Xi reportedly wrote.
On Tuesday. China's state-runXinhuanews agency reported Xi as saying he had reached "an important consensus with Kim on developing China-DPRK relations in the new era", using North Korea's official acronym. Xi pushed to strengthen diplomatic, law enforcement and military ties, according to Beijing's state media.
By sharing information in the military sector, China appears to want to "directly assess technological changes within the North Korean military. the status of Russian technology transfer", said Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
China may also hope to "collect intelligence for the purpose of monitoring trends in pro-Russian. pro-Chinese human networks within the North Korean military", he added.
Xi's trip came after last month's talks with Trump. during which the White House said the leaders "confirmed their shared goal to denuclearise North Korea". But official media reports from both China. North Korea made no mention of denuclearisation in their coverage of the Xi-Kim summit.
Analysts said that suggested Beijing was tacitly accepting Pyongyang's status as a nuclear-armed state.
Read More:North Korea's Kim calls for 'exponential' nuclear expansion after inspecting new plant
Kim has repeatedly vowed never to give up his nuclear arsenal,. his powerful sister said before Xi's visit that the programme was Pyongyang's"line of no retreat".
Despite being historically highly reliant on political. economic support from China, Kim has drawn North Koreacloser to Russiain recent years. He has boosted an alliance with Putin by sending troops to fight alongside Russian forces against Ukraine.
Still. Beijing remains an economic anchor for North Korea, whose economy has been hobbled for years by international sanctions over its nuclear programme. China accounted for $2.6 billion of North Korea's foreign trade -- nearly 98 percent of the total -- in 2024, according to South Korea's Ministry of Economy. Finance.
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