Chinese Foreign Minister Meets Kim Jong Un on North Korea Visit

Wang Yi is the highest-ranking Chinese official to travel to North Korea in years.

In this image, taken from video footage by China’s CCTV via AP Video, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (right) meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang.

(Photo: AP)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is in North Korea and has met his counterpart Ri Yong-ho. They discussed the current situation on the peninsula following the inter-Korean summit, media reports said on Thursday, 3 May.

The Chinese foreign minister also met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a rare visit to Pyongyang, China's foreign ministry said on Thursday.

The two-day visit by Wang Yi – the highest-ranking Chinese official to travel to North Korea in years – follows a landmark inter-Korean summit and precedes a planned meeting between Kim and US President Donald Trump.

The North Korean state news agency, KCNA, reported that Wang arrived on Wednesday, 2 May. He is the first Chinese Foreign Minister to make an official trip to the country in 11 years. Wang was accorded a ceremonial reception on Thursday.

Wang and Ri had an "in-depth" discussion on the "friendly and cooperative" relations between the two nations. This comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met Chinese President Xi Jinping in March in Beijing.

Wang’s visit took place less than a week after the historic summit between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, when the two leaders agreed to achieve complete denuclearisation of the peninsula.

Beijing, which has supported the denuclearisation, has since shown its willingness to work with the two Koreas and the US towards a peace treaty that will replace the armistice.

(With inputs from IANS and PTI)