North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has arrived in China for a “surprise” summit with Chinese president Xi Jinping, ahead of a possible meeting between Kim and Donald Trump.
State-run North Korean news services reported that Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju will be in China to meet with Xi until Thursday, at the invitation of the Chinese president.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“It will be announced probably in the not-too-distant future,” Trump told reporters on Sunday. “They do want to meet and we want to meet and we'll see what happens.”
South Korea’s Yonhap news service says that Kim was accompanied on the trip by “Kim Yong Chol, a key nuclear negotiator with the US, and Ri Yong Ho and No Kwang Chol, the country's foreign and defence ministers, respectively”.
Kim and his entourage reportedly travelled in the North Korean leader’s heavily fortified personal train, with security at the border crossing site in Dandong said to be very tight while the train was passing through.
It is the fourth time Kim has travelled to China to meet with Xi, and comes at a delicate time for China as talks between Washington and Beijing get underway to address the ongoing trade war.
-
Political cartoons for January 18Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include cost of living, endless supply of greed, and more
-
Exploring ancient forests on three continentsThe Week Recommends Reconnecting with historic nature across the world
-
How oil tankers have been weaponisedThe Explainer The seizure of a Russian tanker in the Atlantic last week has drawn attention to the country’s clandestine shipping network
-
Iran in flames: will the regime be toppled?In Depth The moral case for removing the ayatollahs is clear, but what a post-regime Iran would look like is anything but
-
Europe moves troops to Greenland as Trump fixatesSpeed Read Foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark met at the White House yesterday
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Trump, Iran trade threats as protest deaths riseSpeed Read The death toll in Iran has surpassed 500
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
What do the people of Greenland want for their future?As Europe prevaricates over US threats for annexation there is a unifying feeling of self-determination among Greenlanders
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
Venezuela ‘turning over’ oil to US, Trump saysSpeed Read This comes less than a week after Trump captured the country’s president
