BEIJING (REUTERS) – China’s commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng said on Thursday (April 30) he was unaware of any North Korean economic delegation visiting China this week.

Two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters earlier this week that a delegation would arrive in Beijing to discuss food supplies and trade issues as the coronavirus outbreak has severely disrupted North Korea’s food supply. The delegation was scheduled to meet Chinese commerce ministry officials, they said.

Mr Gao told reporters during the briefing that China and North Korea were maintaining friendly relations, but said he did not have knowledge of the delegation in question.

He added that he hoped the media would produce responsible reports based on facts.

The people cited by Reuters had said the delegation’s visit to Beijing was unrelated to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s health status. They declined to be identified, given the sensitivity of the matter.

Leader Kim, believed to be 36, was conspicuously absent from April 15 birthday celebrations for his grandfather and state founder Kim Il Sung, and has not been seen since an April 11 politburo meeting, fuelling speculation in the international community about his condition.

A spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, asked on Monday about Mr Kim and reports of a Chinese delegation being sent to North Korea, told a regular media briefing that he had no information to offer on the matter.

The two people cited by Reuters had said Beijing and Pyongyang have discussed the resumption of cross-border trade in recent weeks.

Early this year, Mr Kim imposed strict restrictions on nearly all transportation across its borders with China and Russia, severely limiting trade and travel, which the sources said have caused food and consumer goods shortages in a country with already-limited supplies.

China has meanwhile been reluctant to ease border controls as it is still imposing tight containment measures at home to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday that a source at the China-North Korea border said they had seen at least one freight train a day since April 22 cross from Dandong in China into Sinuiju on the North Korean side.

China plans to send emergency items such as rice, soybeans, vegetables, instant noodles and medical supplies as aid to Pyongyang, one of the people with knowledge of the matter said.

China is the chief ally and economic lifeline for North Korea, which has been hard-hit by UN sanctions over its nuclear weapons programme.

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