North Korea’s Kim and China’s Xi strengthen ties during visit

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and China's President Xi Jinping marked their growing closeness with an exchange of "beneficial views" on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, the North's state media reported, as well as assessing last week's summit with US president Donald Trump.

Mr Kim said he would closely co-operate with his Chinese allies "in the historic journey of defending socialism and opening up a new future for the Korean Peninsula and the region, and fully discharge his responsibility and role to protect genuine peace", the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The talks between the two leaders were held in a “comradely, candid and friendly atmosphere”, it said. The rhetoric is a reminder of the two neighbours’ shared communist heritage.

China was North Korea's ally in the Korean War (1950-53), although relations became strained by the North's nuclear programme, which China felt threatened its interests and stability in the region.

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Mr Kim's two-day visit is the latest stop in what has been a busy few weeks of travel. It's his third visit to China in three months, and during that time he has also met South Korea's president Moon Jae-in at the Panmunjom village on the southern side of the demilitarised zone (DMZ) and met Mr Trump in Singapore for a summit, the first time leaders of the two enemy nations had met.

At both Panmunjom and Singapore, the parties agreed to commit to denuclearisation. Since then, there have been questions over how the process will play out and what exactly it means.

After the Singapore meeting, Mr Trump made the surprise announcement that he would end joint South Korean-US “war games”, which have long been an irritant to the North Koreans as they see them as preparation for invasion.

‘Learn, consult, unite’

However, as China seeks to maintain its key role in brokering peace talks, Mr Xi told a banquet that the two allies “would learn, consult, unite and co-operate with each other as close friends and comrades to jointly open up rosier and beautiful future of the socialist cause in the two countries”.

Mr Kim kicked off day two of his visit with a tour of an agricultural science centre in Beijing, evidence that the North, where farming is often basic and food shortages common, is keen to reform food production.

The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that Mr Kim also visited the Beijing Infrastructure Investment Company, which could be linked to the long-vaunted Trans-China Railway that would link Seoul and Beijing through Pyongyang and the Sinuiju, which faces the Chinese city of Dandong across the Yalu River.

A visit to scientific and infrastructure facilities is a clear sign that North Korea is preparing for life once international sanctions, imposed over its nuclear programme, are eventually lifted.

Both Mr Trump and the South Koreans have said sanctions will not be lifted until denuclearisation has taken place.

In another sign of easing tensions, there were reports that some of the remains of US servicemen from the Korean War would start to be transferred to the UN command in South Korea in coming days.

Pyongyang is also planning to stage its spectacular Mass Games for the first time in five years, according to the British tour operator Koryo Tours. The event takes place on September 9th, North Korea’s national day, in the massive Rungrado May Day stadium.