Kathmandu. North Korea and China have pledged to take bilateral relations to a more strategic and long-term level after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pyongyang.

According to the North’s official news agency KCNA, the leaders agreed to further strengthen their traditional friendship by outlining a “long-term roadmap” for the future of the relationship.

Xi made a rare visit to North Korea on Monday after holding high-level talks with world leaders including US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing. The visit comes amid an unusually close relationship between North Korea and Russia.

According to KCNA, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un expressed satisfaction that relations between the two countries have been taken to a new height. During the two-day visit, the two sides reiterated their determination to further consolidate revolutionary friendship, political trust and strategic cooperation.

During the visit, Xi and Kim jointly inspected the Workers’ Party’s Central Cadre Training School. According to KCNA, they discussed the development of the party’s leadership and political training. Later, the two leaders planted a tree at the Friendship Memorial in honour of Chinese soldiers who lost their lives during the Korean War.

Xi was given a special welcome in Pyongyang. He arrived in North Korea with his wife and a senior government delegation. In a message sent to Kim after the visit, Xi said the two sides held “important understandings” by holding “in-depth exchanges” on common concerns.

According to Xi, the agreement reflects the commitment of both countries to feed traditional friendship with new energy, promote common development and prosperity, and safeguard regional and international peace and stability.

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency also reported that Xi and Kim had reached an important agreement to develop China-DPRK relations in a new era. According to Beijing state media, Xi stressed the need to expand diplomatic, security, law enforcement and military cooperation.

According to analysts, the purpose of prioritizing military cooperation could also be to directly assess the technological changes taking place within the North Korean military and the growing military relations with Russia. Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in South Korea, said China may be trying to gather more information about the pro-Russian and pro-China influence inside North Korea.

Another important aspect of the visit was the public silence on North Korea’s nuclear program. After talks with Trump last month, the White House said that denuclearization of North Korea was a common goal of both sides. There was no mention of denuclearisation in the details of the Xi-Kim summit published by Chinese and North Korean state media.

Analysts describe it as a sign that Beijing is practically acknowledging North Korea’s nuclear status. North Korea has repeatedly said that North Korea will not give up its nuclear weapons program. Before the visit, his sister, Kim Yo Jong, said the event was North Korea’s “no-deal border”.

Although North Korea has leaned more toward Russia in recent years, China remains its biggest economic partner. Pyongyang has strengthened ties with Moscow by sending troops and weapons to help with the war in Ukraine. But China remains a key economic base for North Korea’s economy, which is under pressure from international sanctions.

According to South Korea’s Ministry of Finance and Finance, China accounted for about 98 percent of North Korea’s total foreign trade in 2024, or $2.6 billion. This shows that China’s economic influence over North Korea is still decisive.