By Focus and AFP | 2026-06-10

PYONGYANG -- Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up a rare two-day state visit to Pyongyang after pledging to raise Sino-North Korean ties to "new heights" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Yet it was what went unsaid that drew the sharpest attention.

Xi's trip to Pyongyang on June 8-9 was his first since 2019. He was accompanied by his wife, Peng Liyuan, and senior officials.

Xi and Peng were greeted at the airport by Kim and his wife, Ri Sol-ju. At the summit, Xi pledged to cooperate with Kim in trade, agriculture, science, tourism and health care, and called for stronger exchanges "at all levels and in all fields."

"No matter how the international situation changes... the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK [an acronym for North Korea] will not change," Xi said.

North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency said the leaders adopted a "far-reaching blueprint" for Beijing-Pyongyang ties.

Nuclear silence

The most notable development was what the two sides omitted.

Neither country's official readout mentioned denuclearization. China's readout emphasized instead that the two sides should "jointly safeguard regional peace and development." The omission continued a pattern that began last September, when denuclearization language disappeared from joint statements after Kim visited Beijing for a military parade.

Beijing has historically opposed a nuclear-armed North Korea, partly out of concern that it could push U.S. allies South Korea and Japan toward their own weapon programs.

"China's approach to North Korea has shifted markedly over the past seven years, from the role of a mediator for North Korea-U.S. denuclearization talks to that of a strong strategic partner in countering the United States," Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told the New York Times.

North Korea entered the summit with its position staked out. On June 7, the day before Xi's arrival, Kim's sister and key policy aide Kim Yo Jong declared in the Rodong Sinmun that Pyongyang's nuclear status was "absolutely nonnegotiable."

Pyongyang viewed China's silence on denuclearization throughout the summit as validation, said analysts.

"Kim was seeking China's endorsement of North Korea as a nuclear weapons state, and he got it through China's silence on the denuclearization issues," Ellen Kim, director of academic programs at the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEIA), told Yonhap News Agency.

Kim's position of strength

Kim attended the summit from a position of confidence. "The key is that Kim Jong Un can receive Xi Jinping from a position of strength. Otherwise, the North Koreans wouldn't want China visiting when they're feeling weak," John Delury, a visiting research fellow at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, told NBC News.

The visit reflected Pyongyang's "increasing strategic importance" in the region, and boosted Kim's standing as a leader courted by both China and Russia, Andrew Yeo, SK-Korea Foundation chair at the Brookings Institution's Center for East Asia Policy Studies, told Yonhap.

Russia in the background

Xi's reassertion of influence came against the backdrop of North Korea's increasing tilt toward Moscow. Although North Korea has long relied on China, Kim has pulled his country closer to Russia in recent years, sending troops to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.

Economically, North Korea remains profoundly reliant on China. It accounted for $2.6 billion of North Korea's foreign trade -- nearly 98% of the total -- in 2024, according to South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Washington dimension

Xi's Pyongyang visit came weeks after he hosted U.S. President Donald Trump in Beijing, during which the White House said both leaders confirmed a "shared goal" of denuclearizing North Korea.

"China's broader regional strategy benefits from a stable, heavily armed, and aligned buffer state that absorbs U.S. and allied military bandwidth," Seong-Hyon Lee, a visiting scholar at the Harvard University Asia Center, told AFP.

But China could pay a price. Beijing's silence will "inadvertently push South Korea to reassess China's strategic value as a partner," Ellen Kim of KEIA said.