China's Xi Jinping visits North Korea: What signals at this time?

On June 20, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang for his first meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the North Korean capital since 2019. The event was seen as unexpected, as Xi has rarely traveled abroad in recent years. According to Asia Society data, from 2013 to 2019 he averaged about 14 overseas trips per year. That number dropped to six trips per year from 2022 to 2025. In 2020, Xi made only one trip abroad, and none in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Analysts view Xi’s decision to personally visit Pyongyang as a sign of the special importance Beijing places on this trip. “World leaders like U.S. President Donald Trump or Russian President Vladimir Putin usually come to Beijing rather than Xi having to go,” said William Yang, senior analyst for Northeast Asia at the Crisis Group, speaking to Al Jazeera. Yang suggested that one driver for the visit is Beijing’s concern over the increasingly close relationship between North Korea and Russia.

Since Russia launched its military campaign in Ukraine in 2022, North Korea has supplied Moscow with weapons, ammunition, and personnel, which observers say has helped sustain Russia’s war machine. A report by the Korea Institute for National Security Strategy found that Moscow has paid North Korea up to $14.4 billion since 2023 for troop deployment and exports of “artillery, shells, and guided missiles.” However, the report also noted that North Korea received only between $580 million and $1.5 billion in goods, with most of the money likely paid in “sensitive military technology or related precision components and materials” that are difficult to monitor via satellite.

“Beijing has always been very cautious about providing military support to North Korea because they do not see a more militarily capable North Korea as beneficial to them,” Yang said. “A stronger North Korea thanks to its relationship with Russia could be a source of disruption to the power balance and the status quo on the Korean Peninsula.” Since the beginning of the year, North Korea has conducted eight missile launches and in May unveiled a new tactical cruise missile guided by AI. Earlier this week, North Korean state media also released images of Kim visiting a factory producing weapons-grade nuclear materials, aiming to expand nuclear capability at an “exponential” pace.

Meanwhile, tensions on the Korean Peninsula remain high. In 2024, Kim Jong Un abandoned the long-standing goal of reunification with South Korea and has since cut off most communications. On June 19, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry expressed hope that Xi’s visit would “play a constructive role in resolving issues related to the Korean Peninsula,” suggesting that Seoul had lobbied the Chinese leader to ease tensions. South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said last month he hoped the two leaders would discuss the possibility of a meeting between Kim and former U.S. President Donald Trump later this year.

Xi may also be concerned about other security developments in East Asia. At the end of May, information about a potential logistics-military agreement between South Korea and Japan emerged during the Shangri-La Dialogue. While China-South Korea relations have fluctuated, ties with Japan are strained due to historical disagreements. Beijing also opposes Tokyo’s recent de facto military expansion.