Kim Jong-un visits China following historic Trump summit

North Korea's Kim Jong-un and China's Xi Jinping stand side by side.
North Korea's Kim Jong-un and China's Xi Jinping stand side by side.
By Euronews
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North Korea's leader met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on his third trip to Beijing since March. They were expected to discuss sanctions and the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

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Kim Jong-un has met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing a week after his historic summit with US President Donald Trump.

What they spoke about was not revealed but they were expected to discuss sanctions and Kim's sweeping commitment to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula.

China, which is North Korea's sole economic ally, has previously suggested an easing of the sanctions on the secretive Communist regime.

This is the third meeting between the two leaders since March.

Kim Donggil, Director of the Korean Peninsula Centre at Peking University said: "Right now, it is too early to say North Korea government is starting to play games with America and Chinese government.

"It is clear, it is apparent that China, the Chinese government is the only one supporting for the North Korea government."

Meanwhile, the US and South Korea have confirmed that planning for their next joint military drills has been cancelled - a long standing demand of both North Korea and China.

This follows a pledge made by Trump during the summit in Singapore.

Yang Mu-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul said: "Suspending the Freedom Guardian is meaningful as it can ease security risks on the Korean Peninsula and push for North Korea's denuclearisation.

"So I expect that there will not be any major problem with the defence capacity of the alliance, and of the South Korean military in particular."

Both South Korea and Japan have said the drills were important defensive measures, but Trump recently called them "provocative", mirroring Pyongyang's stance.

There are about 29,000 US soldiers based in South Korea and the two countries regularly conduct large-scale military drills.

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