Chinese top legislator Zhao Leji to visit North Korea this week

Zhao Leji, current Communist Party of China's Politburo Standing Committee member, applauds as he is introduced as a member of the Communist Party of China's Politburo Standing Committee, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Oct. 23, 2022. AFP-Yonhap

A Chinese delegation led by the country's top legislator, Zhao Leji, will visit Pyongyang, North Korea's state media said Tuesday, in the latest in a series of trips meant to boost ties.

The delegation "will pay an official goodwill visit" to North Korea, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said in an English-language dispatch, without providing any further details.

In Beijing, China's foreign ministry said Zhao will visit the North from Thursday to Saturday to attend the opening ceremony of the China-DPRK Friendship Year.

The visit comes as the two nations mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties. China is the North's longtime ally and largest economic benefactor.

South Korea's unification ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs earlier said North Korea and China are expected to have "vibrant" exchanges this year to mark the anniversary.

In January, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong visited Pyongyang and met with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui in a move widely seen as a reciprocal trip after the North's Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong-ho visited China in December 2023. (Yonhap)