SEOUL (REUTERS) – Chinese President Xi Jinping said in an op-ed in North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Wednesday (June 19) that China supports North Korea’s “correct direction” in resolving the issue of the Korean Peninsula politically.

The front-page op-ed comes a day before Mr Xi is set to visit Pyongyang on Thursday and Friday at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, making him the first Chinese leader to visit in 14 years.

As nuclear talks between the United States and North Korea remain stalled since the collapse of the Hanoi summit between North Korea’s Kim and US President Donald Trump in February, and tensions mount between Beijing and Washington over trade and other issues, Mr Xi’s visit kicks off a flurry of high-level diplomatic activity around the Korean Peninsula ahead of the G-20 summit in Japan later this month.

Mr Xi said that the two Asian countries will “strengthen our strategic communication and exchanges,” adding that China will “firmly support” Mr Kim’s “achievements in socialist construction by leading the Workers’ Party and the people through a new strategic route, focusing all his efforts on economic development and improving people’s lives,” according to the newspaper.

“We will actively contribute to peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region by strengthening communication and coordination with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Mr Xi said.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is North Korea’s official name.

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