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> 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> North Korea's state media says leader Kim Jong Un has left for China for his fourth summit with Xi Jinping

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea's state media says leader Kim Jong Un has left for China for his fourth summit with Xi Jinping. </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> North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was spending his birthday in Beijing after arriving in the Chinese capital Tuesday — which was believed to be his 35th birthday — for his fourth summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping as talks on a second meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump gather steam.

“At the invitation of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Chinese president, Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea and chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is visiting China,” the official Xinhua News Agency quoted an unidentified spokesperson from the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee International Department as saying Tuesday.

Kim was to visit through Thursday, the spokesperson said.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency also confirmed the visit, saying that Kim had left for China on a private train on Monday afternoon accompanied by his wife, Ri Sol Ju, and other senior North Korean officials, including Kim Yong Chol and Ri Yong Ho.

Media reports said that a long motorcade believed to be carrying Kim and including motorcycle outriders reserved for state leaders left a train station in the Chinese capital shortly after the arrival of an armored train consisting of 20 to 25 cars — most of whose windows were blacked-out — along tracks lined by police and paramilitary troops.

Kim was expected to stay at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in the capital’s west, with meetings held at the Great Hall of the People, the seat of the legislature that sits next to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

While there was no official confirmation of Kim’s itinerary, South Korea’s Hankyoreh newspaper, citing an unidentified source with close knowledge of North Korea-China affairs, reported late Monday that Kim would meet with Xi.

After the visit’s announcement, Tokyo voiced hopes of receiving a briefing from Beijing on the trip.

“We’re making efforts to collect and analyze information with strong interest and hoping to have an appropriate briefing from the Chinese side from now on,” Kyodo News quoted Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga as saying at a news conference Tuesday.

Regarding the possible impact of Kim’s visit on the second summit with Trump, Suga said, “I’d like to refrain from prejudging at this point.”

Seoul on Tuesday said it hoped the North Korean leader’s trip to China would act as a “stepping stone” for the second Kim-Trump summit. South Korean presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom made the comments hours after Kim arrived in Beijing, adding that he hoped the Xi-Kim talks would also help contribute to achieving the complete denuclearization and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim, who Seoul says was born on Jan. 8, 1984 — though the North’s government hasn’t officially confirmed the date — met with Xi in China three times last year before and after he held summits with Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Beijing is Pyongyang’s sole major ally and its top economic lifeline as it continues to fend off crippling sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile programs. The visits last year were widely seen as a courtesy to China and an opportunity to coordinate strategy ahead of the summits with the U.S. and South Korean leaders.

Xi is widely expected to visit North Korea at some point soon, possibly even this year — the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries — which would make him the first Chinese leader to do so since 2005.

Trump said Sunday that the sanctions imposed on the nuclear-armed North will remain “in full force and effect” until the United States saw “very positive,” but also said that discussions on the location of the next summit were underway and that further details would be announced soon.

“We are negotiating a location,” he said.

The White House has remained evasive on the exact timing of the summit, though officials have previously said they expected the meeting to happen sometime early this year.

“It will be announced probably in the not too distant future. They do want to meet and we want to meet and we’ll see what happens,” he said, adding the he had “indirectly spoken” with Kim.

On Monday, the South Korean newspaper Munhwa Ilbo reported that U.S. State Department officials recently met multiple times with North Korean counterparts in Hanoi and discussed planning a second summit between Trump and Kim, fueling speculation that Vietnam could host the event.

Trump, who held a landmark summit with Kim in Singapore in June that resulted in a vaguely worded pledge “to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” said last week that he had received a “great letter” from the North Korean leader but declined to reveal its contents.

The latest letter from Kim came as denuclearization talks remain at an impasse and after the North Korean leader warned in a New Year’s speech that Pyongyang may change its approach to the talks if Washington persists with sanctions.

In his address, Kim urged the United States to take reciprocal measures in exchange for denuclearization steps the North Korean dictator has claimed his country has taken since last year.

“If the United States does not keep the promise it made in the eyes of the world, and out of miscalculation of our people’s patience, it attempts to unilaterally enforce something upon us and persists in imposing sanctions and pressure against our Republic, we may be compelled to find a new way for defending the sovereignty of the country and the supreme interests of the state,” Kim said.

Some observers believe that while it is tempting to interpret this “new way” as being a thinly veiled threat of more nuclear or missile tests, it could instead be an implicit warning that the North could further bolster its already improving ties with China if the U.S. fails to ante up.

“Kim’s confidence stems from the expectation of growing and reliable support by China,” Rudiger Frank, a professor of East Asian economy and society at the University of Vienna, wrote on the North Korea-watching 38 North blog on Jan. 2. “The three summits with Xi Jinping in 2018 seem to have made Kim Jong Un very optimistic.”

Frank said the protracted trade war between Beijing and Washington, among other issues, has created the impression among strategists in Pyongyang of a “Cold War 2.0 situation.”

“Like in the decades before the collapse of the Soviet Union, supporting smaller allies could again become a matter of principle for the Big Powers even if these allies step out of line occasionally,” he wrote. “The not unfounded hope of Kim Jong Un is that in such a strategic setting, China would be willing to provide protection and economic support while abstaining from too massive direct interference. Forcing the U.S. out of Korea, and out of East Asia, is more important to Beijing than reigning in on a self-confident or even provocative North Korea.”

Thus, Kim’s threat may not be a hint at more nuclear tests, “but rather as a message to Donald Trump: You are not our only option for security and economic development. If you refuse to be cooperative, we will ignore you and turn to China. Oh, and we will take South Korea along,” he added.

Still, the North Korean leader is already refraining from putting all of his eggs in one basket, saying in his New Year’s address that, despite the stalled talks, he was willing to meet Trump again at any time to produce results “welcomed by the international community.” </s> BEIJING — The Latest on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's trip to China (all times local):

Kim Jong Un's train has left Beijing after a two-day visit by the North Korean leader to the Chinese capital.

The long train was seen Wednesday travelling on an elevated track over a busy street heading toward eastern China.

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency says it will take 14 hours for the train to reach the city of Dandong at the North Korean border.

Kim reportedly met Chinese President Xi Jinping during his trip, which may have been a precursor to a second summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump.

The motorcade of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has headed out on the second full day of his visit to China.

Kim could not be seen but the limousine he uses was observed zipping east down a main thoroughfare in Beijing on Wednesday.

His trip to Beijing has been shrouded in secrecy. North Korean and Chinese state media have announced his visit but provided no details of what he has done since arriving by train on Tuesday morning.

China is North Korea's only major ally, and Kim is likely consulting and coordinating with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and others ahead of a possible second summit with President Donald Trump. </s> The Latest: Kim Jong Un on way to China for summit

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The Latest on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's visit to China (all times local):

North Korea's state media says leader Kim Jong Un has left for China.

The Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday that Kim departed for China on Monday afternoon with his wife Ri Sol Ju and top officials.

The KCNA dispatch came after South Korean media reported late Monday that Kim may be on his way to Beijing aboard a special train for his fourth summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Kim's trip comes after U.S. and North Korean officials are believed to have met in Vietnam to discuss the location of a second summit between Kim and President Donald Trump.

South Korean media say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may be on his way to Beijing for his fourth summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Officials in China and in Seoul had no immediate comment. North Korea rarely reports such visits until they are over.

The reports said a train like the one often used by Kim was seen crossing through the Chinese border city of Dandong late Monday amid heavy security.

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency speculated the train could be carrying a senior North Korean official, while the Hankyoreh newspaper cited sources as saying Kim was in China for a summit.

Yonhap said the train was expected to reach Beijing at about 10 a.m. Tuesday local time. </s> BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived Thursday morning for a two-day state visit to North Korea, where he is expected to talk with leader Kim Jong Un about the stalled negotiations with Washington over North Korea's nuclear weapons.

A photo posted by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on its mobile app showed a large welcoming contingent including a military band at the airport in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.

China's Xinhua News Agency said that Xi was accompanied by his wife, Peng Liyuan, and several Communist Party officials. He is the first Chinese president to visit North Korea in 14 years.

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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.

A Xinhua commentary said China could play a unique and constructive role in breaking the cycle of mistrust between North Korea and the U.S. so they can work out a roadmap to achieve denuclearization.

The U.S. is demanding that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons development before international sanctions are lifted. North Korea is seeking a step-by-step approach in which a step toward its denuclearization would be matched by a concession from the U.S., notably a relaxation of economic sanctions.

ALSO READ: China's Xi Jinping to visit North Korea this week ahead of G20 Summit

China backs what it calls a "suspension for suspension" proposal. Xinhua said both sides "need to have reasonable expectations and refrain from imposing unilateral and unrealistic demands."

A former North Korean diplomat who defected in 2016 said he thinks Kim wants to give Xi a message to deliver to President Donald Trump when the two meet at next week's G-20 summit in Japan.

Thae Yong Ho, speaking at a news conference in Tokyo, said that Kim may offer some kind of compromise on his country's nuclear facilities to set up a third summit with the U.S. president. Thae was in Japan to promote the Japanese translation of his book.

U.S.-North Korea talks have been stalled since Kim and Trump met for the second time in February in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Experts say Xi will likely endorse North Korea's calls for an incremental disarmament process.

Chinese and North Korea media have said Xi would stay in Pyongyang for two days. His meeting with Kim would be their fifth summit since Kim entered nuclear diplomacy with the United States and South Korea early last year.

In an essay published in both countries' official media before his trip, Xi praised North Korea for moving in the "right direction" by politically resolving issues on the peninsula. He did not mention Kim's nuclear diplomacy with the U.S. in the article, much of which focused on lauding the neighbors' seven-decade relationship. Xi said his visit will "strengthen strategic communication and exchange" between the traditional, though sometimes strained, allies.

The nations fought together in the 1950-53 Korean War against the United States, South Korea and their allies, but there has been friction in recent years, especially over the North's relentless push for nuclear weapons.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrives in Beijing for his fourth summit meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.