A senior Chinese envoy discussed regional concerns with officials in Pyongyang on Saturday, North Korean state media said, as the US presses China to help ease the standoff over the North’s nuclear weapons. The visit by Song Tao, described by Pyongyang as a special envoy of President Xi Jinping,
Shanghai (AFP) – A senior Chinese envoy discussed regional concerns with officials in Pyongyang on Saturday, North Korean state media said, as the US presses China to help ease the standoff over the North’s nuclear weapons.
The visit by Song Tao, described by Pyongyang as a special envoy of President Xi Jinping, is the first by a senior Chinese envoy for more than a year.
Relations are severely stressed over Pyongyang’s nuclear sabre-rattling and Beijing’s support for tough UN sanctions on its neighbour.
“The two sides exchanged their views on such matters of mutual concern as the situation of the Korean peninsula and region and bilateral relations,” the official KCNA news agency said in describing Song’s talks with Ri Su-Yong, a senior ruling party leader, and other officials.
Relations between the two communist neighbours, once said by Mao Zedong to be “as close as lips and teeth”, are at their worst in decades over North Korea’s actions, and Beijing faces pressure from US President Donald Trump to pile pressure on Pyongyang.
Song, who arrived on Friday, met that day with Choe Ryong-Hae, another senior official in North Korea’s ruling party and a close aide to leader Kim Jong-Un.
