Kim Jong-un visits China for 4 days

Leader Kim Jong-un visited China from January 7 to January 10 and met with President Xi Jinping at Xi's invitation, North Korea's state news agency said.KCNAreported today. China's Xinhua news agency has also just confirmed this information.

Xi Jinping (right) and Kim Jong-un shake hands during the North Korean leader's visit to Beijing in March 2018. Photo: Reuters.

This will be Kim Jong-un's longest visit to China and he is likely to hold a summit with the Chinese president. Xi accepted an invitation to visit North Korea last year but the plan did not happen.

Earlier, South Korea's Hankyoreh newspaper reported that a train carrying "a high-ranking North Korean official" was en route to Beijing. Dozens of Chinese vehicles and security forces blocked the area around the station in the city of Dandong, which borders North Korea, as the train passed, sparking speculation about the possibility of the North Korean leader visiting China.

China is North Korea’s most important diplomatic and trade partner, although Beijing has repeatedly expressed displeasure with Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. China also played a role in the historic summit between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, lending the North Korean leader a private plane to fly to Singapore.

Kim Jong-un visited China three times in 2018, before and after meeting Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. South Korea's Munhwa Ilbo newspaper, citing senior diplomatic sources in Seoul and Washington, said US and North Korean officials met in Hanoi to discuss the schedule for the second summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un. US and South Korean government officials have not commented on this information.