North Korean leader Kim Jong Un welcomed a high-ranking Chinese diplomat in Pyongyang Saturday, roughly two weeks after Kim's surprise visit to Beijing, state media reported.
Song Tao, the head of China's ruling Communist Party's International Department, led an art troupe to North Korea to attend an arts festival.
The two leaders "reached important consensus, and the meeting achieved fruitful results," Kim said, according to Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency.
The meeting is the latest in a flurry of diplomacy between the two countries since Kim's historic visit to China last month.
During their meeting, Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated the importance of maintaining the close China-North Korea alliance that had grown tense over Pyongyang’s defiant nuclear and ballistic missile tests. Xi supported increasingly harsh U.S.-led sanctions to pressure Kim to re-enter talks to end his threatening nuclear program in exchange for ending economic restrictions, increasing assistance and providing security guarantees.
Kim is scheduled to meet with South Korean president Moon Jae In April 27, and with U.S. President Donald Trump in May or June.
