China will send a high-level special envoy to North Korea on Friday to report back to President Xi Jinping about the national congress that was held last month, according to a report Wednesday.
Song Tao is the head of China’s ruling Communist Party’s International Department, and will travel to Pyongyang, North Korea, later this week. The trip marks the first time a ministerial-level Chinese official has visited Kim Jong Un’s country since October 2015.
The newly announced visit comes days after President Trump left China after meeting with Xi and other Asian leaders last week. The Chinese government did not state if the trip was connected to Trump’s visit, though the American president has increased pressure on China to encourage Kim to stop testing missiles and likely spent part of his visit discussing the issue.
The Xinhua News Agency reported that Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said exchanging views in this kind of trip was “common practice” between both leaders’ parties.
“The purpose of this visit is to brief about the party congress and exchange views on issues of common interest and bilateral interest,” Geng told reporters at a briefing.
