BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed Tuesday to carry forward traditional friendship from generation to generation, Chinese state-run media said, while North Korean reports on the summit talks the previous day made no mention of Pyongyang's nuclear program.
Before concluding his two-day trip to North Korea, his first since 2019, Xi paid tribute at the Sino-North Korean friendship tower, built in memory of Chinese soldiers who fought in the 1950-53 Korean War, accompanied by Kim, China's official Xinhua News Agency said.
The two leaders also visited the Central Cadres Training School of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea and jointly planted a fir tree, Xinhua added. The two countries, which fought together in the war against U.S.-led U.N. forces, have long described their relationship as that of "blood brothers."
A Chinese Foreign Ministry statement on the Xi-Kim meeting released Monday also made no mention of Pyongyang's nuclear program.
Beijing has recently refrained from criticizing Pyongyang over its nuclear program, while the White House said Xi and U.S. President Donald Trump reaffirmed their shared goal of denuclearizing North Korea during talks in Beijing in mid-May.
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said Xi and Kim agreed Monday to further strengthen strategic communication and expand exchanges on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of their mutual assistance treaty to "open a new chapter" in bilateral relations.
The China-North Korea Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, signed in 1961, includes provisions guaranteeing immediate military and other support in the event of an armed attack on either nation.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a press conference Tuesday that Beijing stands ready to enhance exchanges with Pyongyang in "diplomacy, law enforcement, military and other areas."
Park Jong Chol, a politics professor at South Korea's Gyeongsang National University, said he believes that China's stance of seeking North Korean denuclearization remains unchanged and that the two leaders may have reached a new agreement on the nuclear issue.
Xi and Kim may have agreed that China would not object to North Korean nuclear weapons already produced and that Pyongyang would freeze production of its nuclear arsenal, Park said, stressing the need to continue monitoring the situation.
The professor also said Xi's proposal for more "exchanges in military affairs" was surprising.
A South Korean Unification Ministry official said it marked the first time that military exchanges between China and North Korea were publicly mentioned since Kim Jong Un effectively inherited power following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in December 2011.
Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun was among senior officials who accompanied Xi to North Korea, according to KCNA.
Beijing-Pyongyang ties have recently improved after apparently souring over North Korea's deepening military cooperation with Russia, with North Korean troops sent to aid Moscow in its war against Ukraine.
During his stay in Pyongyang, Xi attended a welcome banquet and observed an artistic performance with Kim.
