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| North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Wednesday. Kim made a two-day trip to Beijing to discuss the current state of affairs with the Chinese leader and to seek cooperation in North Korea's denuclearization process. / Yonhap |
By Kim Bo-eun
North Korea's state agency reported Thursday its leader Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed the states' alliance and pledged to boost "strategic cooperation" in a meeting in Beijing on Wednesday.
Kim arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a two-day visit, and held a private meeting with Xi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse the following day.
"In a one-on-one meeting between the leaders of North Korea and China, they exchanged views on the current state of affairs and pending international issues, and they discussed boosting bilateral strategic cooperation under the current new circumstances," Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
"New circumstances" refer to the denuclearization process North Korea entered after Kim held a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore last week. North Korea agreed to complete denuclearization in exchange for the U.S. providing regime security.
Kim also said "We will closely cooperate with our Chinese comrades in the historic journey in which we create a new future for the Korean Peninsula and the region," in an address at a welcoming banquet on Tuesday.
In addition, the KCNA reported that Kim and his wife Ri Sol-ju visited the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Beijing Rail Transportation Company.
"I deeply admire your great research achievements," Kim wrote in the guest book after seeing various exhibitions on China's agriculture technology.
After checking Beijing's subway management system, Kim commented "There is a high level of automation and the excellent integrated management system makes me marvel."
Moreover, Kim visited the North Korean Embassy in Beijing, and spoke with staff members as well as North Korean students in China.
Kim returned to Pyongyang on Wednesday, after the First Couples of North Korea and China pledged to have another reunion soon. It was Kim's third meeting with Xi in China since the first in March, when Xi became the first foreign head of state Kim met after years of absence in diplomacy since he took power in 2012. Each meeting was held in secrecy and North Korea's state news agency reported the meeting after Kim had returned to Pyongyang.
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