China’s President Xi Jinping has met with North Korean Premier, Pak Thae Song in Beijing on Friday, as Pak begins a three-day visit, local media reported.
He is expected to attend events commemorating the 65th anniversary of the China–North Korea friendship treaty.
Pak arrived in the Chinese capital earlier on Friday.
The visit follows Xi’s trip to Pyongyang last month, his first to North Korea in seven years where he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to deepen cooperation in politics, the economy and culture.
Signed on July 11, 1961, the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance remains China’s only active mutual defence agreement.
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Relations between Beijing and Pyongyang have strengthened significantly since late 2025, with both countries increasing high-level diplomatic exchanges and restoring passenger rail services and direct flights between their capitals.
Pak, 70, was appointed North Korea’s premier in December 2024 after a lengthy career in the ruling Workers’ Party. He initially focused on propaganda and party disciplinary affairs before taking on senior roles overseeing industry, science and education policy.
A longtime member of Kim Jong Un’s inner circle, Pak has worked closely with the North Korean leader since the early years of his leadership after Kim assumed power in 2011.
He has made only a handful of overseas trips, mostly to China and Russia in 2018 and 2019. In October 2019, he visited Moscow in his capacity as head of the Supreme People’s Assembly.
Reuters
