Xi Jinping to Visit North Korea on Monday

[00:00:00]After recently hosting President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing, Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping will visit North Korea on Monday. It's his first overseas visit this year. That's an indication of just how important this relationship is to China. Why is it happening now? Here's more.

[00:00:19]>> Beijing has worked to draw Pyongyang, its only formal treaty ally, back into its fold after the COVID-19 pandemic froze exchanges.

[00:00:28]>> At the symbolic level, it's important for Xi Jinping to sort of keep uh tabs on what's going on in Pyongyang.

[00:00:35]>> Jean Delury is a senior fellow at the Asia Society.

[00:00:39]>> I think the message implicit from the Chinese side is Xi Jinping is saying, "Look, we are still the principal actor when it comes to North Korea."

[00:00:49]>> Last September, Kim was a guest at the massive military parade in Beijing. And in March this year, passenger train services between Beijing and Pyongyang resumed after a 6-year suspension. Ahead of the visit, Kim called for an exponential expansion of Pyongyang's atomic arsenal during a visit to a nuclear material production factory, state media said. Before his September visit to Beijing last year, Kim inspected plans for a new intercontinental ballistic missile. The announcement of the visit follows Xi's summits in Beijing last month with US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

[00:01:32]>> I do think that one of the audiences is Russia, is Vladimir Putin, just to say, "What you're doing with North Korea is fine, but let's not get too far with this."

[00:01:42]>> Kim deepened ties with Moscow by sending troops and weapons to support Russia's invasion of Ukraine.