China's Xi Jinping arrives in North Korea for talks with Kim Jong Un

Chinese President Xi Jinping landed Thursday in Pyongyang, where he is expected to discuss aid, the economy, and nuclear talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Xi is the first Chinese president to visit North Korea in 14 years, and he will stay for two days. The pair will likely talk about Kim's failed February summit with President Trump, which crumbled after the two sides could not reach an agreement on North Korea ending its nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions. "For North Korea, the coming meeting will serve to show the U.S. that China has its back and to send a message to Washington it should stop its maximum-pressure posture," Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University, told The Guardian.

Xi is having his own tussle with the United States, in the form of an escalating trade war. While this is his first trip to North Korea to meet with Kim, the North Korean leader has gone to Beijing four times since March 2018. Xi was accompanied on his visit by several top officials and his wife, Peng Liyuan.

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