DALIAN, China — The leaders of China and North Korea met for the second time in two months on Tuesday, staying overnight in this Chinese port city as China worked to regain control in the fast-moving diplomacy over the North’s nuclear program.

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, flew to Dalian on Monday, where he held long rounds of discussions with Chinese officials, attended a formal banquet, and took a stroll on a beachfront sidewalk with China’s president, Xi Jinping. The pageantry was shown at length on China’s state-run evening television news, with the two men looking like friends, if rather stiff ones.

The Chinese leader appeared intent on showing that the frayed relationship with North Korea was now repaired, and that China was as important to resolving the problems of North Korea’s nuclear weapons as the United States.

President Trump has said he will meet with Mr. Kim in the coming weeks, and tweeted hours after the meeting in Dalian that he expected to talk shortly on the phone with Mr. Xi about North Korea, as well as trade. </s> BEIJING—North Korean leader Kim Jong Un paid a second surprise visit to China to meet his Chinese counterpart, reinforcing a recent warming of ties ahead of his planned summit with President Donald Trump.

Mr. Kim turned up in the northeastern coastal city of Dalian on Monday and Tuesday for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, a follow-up to a summit six weeks ago. In their meetings, the North Korean leader discussed a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, Chinese state media reported.

... </s> Chinese President Xi Jinping was greeted by cheering crowds as he arrived in Pyongyang for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

In footage broadcast on Chinese television, the two leaders were seen being driven through the North Korean capital.

It is the first Chinese state visit to North Korea since 2005. </s> Unconfirmed reports say that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of historic summits with South Korea and the U.S. </s> SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit to China this week, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday.

Kim visited China from Sunday to Wednesday with his wife, Ri Sol Ju, Yonhap said. It cited North Korea without elaborating. </s> The Latest: China's Xi arrives in North Korea to meet Kim

BEIJING (AP) — The Latest on Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to North Korea (all times local):

Chinese state media say President Xi Jinping has arrived in North Korea for first visit since taking office in 2013.

The Xinhua News Agency says Xi arrived shortly before 11 a.m. Thursday. During the two-day state visit, he's expected to talk with leader Kim Jong Un about reviving talks with Washington over North Korea's nuclear weapons.

China's official Xinhua news agency reported that Xi was accompanied by his wife, Peng Liyuan, and several Communist Party officials. He would be the first Chinese president to visit North Korea in 14 years.

The summit comes as both Xi and Kim are locked in separate disputes with the United States — Xi over trade and Kim over his nuclear weapons.

Chinese state media say President Xi Jinping has departed for his state visit to North Korea, which he has said will strengthen the countries' strategic ties.

Xinhua news agency said Xi left Thursday morning and was accompanied by his wife, Peng Liyuan, and several Communist Party officials. He's expected to have talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, including about his nuclear program as talks have stalled with the U.S.

Experts say Xi will likely endorse North Korea's calls for an incremental disarmament process in which every action Pyongyang takes it met with U.S. concessions on sanctions and security issues. </s> WUZHEN: China's foreign minister said Wednesday the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un can be an "important step" towards advancing denuclearisation and peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Beijing is North Korea's sole major ally and Kim travelled for more than two days by train across China on his way to Hanoi.

The North Korean leader met with Chinese President Xi Jinping for a fourth time in January, showing that Beijing retains a key role in the diplomatic shuffle.

"In this Hanoi meeting, we can not only increase the hard-won warming up of the situation, but we can also take an important step towards advancing the denuclearisation of the peninsula and establishing a peace mechanism," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said after talks with his Russian and Indian counterparts in the eastern Chinese city of Wuzhen.

Trump was due to meet Kim for dinner later Wednesday and meet again on Thursday.

Following a historic first meeting in Singapore in June that produced a vaguely worded statement about denuclearisation, analysts say the second summit in Vietnam's capital Hanoi must this time put substance ahead of bonhomie. </s> SHANGHAI: Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to visit Pyongyang next month at the invitation of North Korea leader Kim Jon-Un to attend the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of North Korea´s founding, Singapore´s Straits Times newspaper reported. It will be the Chinese leader´s first visit to the North Korean capital since he took power in 2012, and 13 years after the last visit by a Chinese President, when Xi´s predecessor Hu Jintao visited in 2005, the newspaper said on Saturday. The Straits Times did not say where it obtained the information and the Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. North Korea´s celebrations are set to take place on Sept. 9 and the Straits Times said that Xi´s visit could still be subject to last-minute changes. China is the reclusive country´s most important trading partner and Kim has visited China three times so far this year. </s> (Bloomberg) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to visit Pyongyang next month as ties between the two countries improve amid mounting U.S.-China trade tensions, The Straits Times reported, without citing anyone.

Xi has been invited by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the country’s founding on Sept. 9, the paper said. The visit would be the first by the Chinese leader to the North Korean capital since Xi took power in 2012, it said.

North Korea also asked South Korean President Moon Jae-in to visit for the celebrations during high-level talks earlier this month, Asahi Shimbun has reported, citing people familiar with inter-Korean relations.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jungah Lee in Seoul at jlee1361@bloomberg.net;Jihye Lee in Seoul at jlee2352@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stanley James at sjames8@bloomberg.net, James Poole
For the second time in two months, North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un meets China's paramount leader Xi Jinping, this time in Dalian.