Xi Jinping’s Second Visit to Pyongyang: A Step Toward Broadly Lifting North Korea’s Isolation and Strengthening the Trilateral Autocratic Alliance

From June 8 to 9, 2026, Chinese leader Xi Jinping made an official visit to North Korea for full-scale interstate negotiations. In addition to Xi, the delegation included Defense Minister Dong Jun, Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao, and other senior representatives of the Chinese Communist Party.

This is believed to be the first visit in the history of China–North Korea relations in which the supreme leader of the PRC was accompanied by such a broad interagency chain of command.

Following his talks with Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping declared his readiness to strengthen cooperation with North Korea in the military, diplomatic, economic, trade, scientific and technological, and infrastructure spheres.