Xi Concludes North Korea Summit With No Public Mention of Nuclear Issue

Pyongyang continues producing nuclear material capable of making roughly 10 to 20 nuclear weapons a year, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said.

A screen with the newspaper Rodong Sinmun showing the news on the visit of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in the Kaeson Station of the Pyongyang Metro in Pyongyang on June 9, 2026. Kim Won Jin/AFP/Getty Images

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping and his North Korean counterpart have pledged to deepen bilateral ties and boost cooperation from politics to trade, while skipping any mention of Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions at a summit closely watched by their neighbors.

Xi returned to Beijing on the afternoon of June 9, after a two-day visit to North Korea that analysts viewed as an attempt to preserve influence over the communist neighbor.