Chinese President Xi Jinping is wrapping up his two-day visit to North Korea, where he was warmly welcomed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Here's what we know:

• Kim has pulled out all the stops for Xi, from a red carpet welcome to dance and acrobatic performances in the evening
• Today, they visited a memorial for Chinese soldiers who fought in the Korean war, as well as Pyongyang's top school for party cadres
• Pyongyang's friendship with China remains a top priority, Kim said, according to state media KCNA

• Xi said the two countries "share a common destiny" and that he had reached an "important consensus" with Kim, Chinese state media reported

• This year marks the 65th anniversary of a key defence pact between the two countries - which was referenced by both leaders during the visit
• Burgeoning ties with Russia have put Kim Jong Un in a better negotiating position than during Xi's last visit in 2019, analysts say

Thank you for joining us.

Laura Bicker
China correspondent

Image source, Reuters

What a spectacle this visit has been - when we’ve been able to finally see the footage from inside North Korea.

There have been acrobats flying through the air, crowds of cheering people on street after street and concerts with songs touting the pride North Korean people feel in seeing the Chinese flag.

This was not just diplomacy - it was political theatre.

This exceptionally elaborate welcome including a military honour guard and giant portraits of Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un is carefully choreographed to send a message of unity, solidarity and the “blood-forged” alliance which dates back to the Korean War.

The bond between them is “unbreakable” said Kim Jong Un.

The message being sent is for their own people - and to external powers.

President Xi will feel he has done enough to remind Kim that his main benefactor is China.

Kim will feel such that having such a VIP on his doorstep, just a few weeks after Xi has held meetings with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will show that he has important friends despite continued international sanctions.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

The long friendship between China and North Korea is famously described to be "as close as lips and teeth" - though their alliance is more complex. Here's a brief look at China-North Korea ties:

• The two neighbours, which share a 1,400km-long border, are bound together by a defence pact - the only one China has with any country - which guarantees mutual support if either is attacked. This year is the 65th anniversary of that agreement

• China is North Korea's largest trading partner, accounting for more than 90% of North Korea's international trade -a lifeline for Pyongyang, which faces wide-ranging international sanctions over its nuclear weapons programme
• While China does not directly sell weapons to North Korea, reports suggest Chinese companies covertly supply North Korea with dual-use items that can be used for military purposes

• But despite Beijing's close ties with Pyongyang and its Soviet neighbour Moscow, there are signs that Xi is wary of the burgeoning alliance between Kim and Russian President Putin

Laura Bicker
China correspondent

The lavish public displays we've seen on this trip have concealed some of the differences between China and North Korea - but not all.

Xi Jinping stated that he hoped the visit would “jointly open up a brighter future for the socialist cause of both countries".

This is a sore point for China.

Beijing has long encouraged North Korea to pursue China’s own model of Communist leadership: maintaining a one party rule while expanding markets, foreign investment and international trade.

There are elements in the Chinese reports that President Xi may be frustrated, noted Sydney Seiler, CSIS Korea Chair on ‘X’.

Kim does not mention any process to develop and "North Korea still refuses to learn from China’s developmental experience”, he added.

Laura Bicker
China correspondent

China is certainly trying to control as much as it can in the face of an unpredictable US president – and Xi is trying to ensure he has some control over what happens in the region.

Beijing won’t want to be caught out of the loop if Trump suddenly tries to engage with Kim Jong Un. Washington has already proven this year that it is prepared to go in and take a Venezuelan president and bomb Iran.

Xi won’t want them to suddenly turn their attention to Pyongyang’s nuclear programme. If they do, Xi will want to appear useful, like an intermediary.

Going to Pyongyang is a message to both Kim and Trump that any path they may consider to another meeting goes through him.

Yuna Ku
BBC Korean Service

On at least one key, thorny issue, it seems like Kim has got what he wanted. Discussions about North Korea's denuclearisation - a call echoed internationally and at times by China - were notably absent from state media readouts of yesterday's talks.

Ahead of Xi's visit this week, there were signs that denuclearisation would not be on the table - at least not in any meaningful way.

Just a day before Xi Jinping's visit, Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo Jong, issued a strongly worded statement reaffirming that North Korea's irreversible nuclear status.

"Our status as a nuclear-armed state is an absolute and unyielding red line; whether others acknowledge it or not, it is an undeniable reality," she said, according to state media Rodong Sinmun.

She also rejected a recent US State Department statement that Trump and Xi had reaffirmed their shared goal of North Korea's denuclearisation during the summit, calling it "a complete fabrication and baseless false information".

Sangmi Han
BBC Korean

For China, North Korea is the last piece of the puzzle in the anti-US alliance that Beijing is leading, says one analyst.

Jaechun Kim, Professor of International Relations and dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at Sogang University, says China is deepening cooperation with Russia amid strategic competition with the United States.

Pyongyang, he explains, has emerged as an "important axis" in that relationship - and Xi has faced a growing need to visit "in order to further solidify the trilateral cooperation structure" among the three countries.

For North Korea, though, the core agenda of this meeting is "expanding economic cooperation" rather than political or military matters, according to Kim Young-hee, a visiting researcher at the Institute for North Korean Studies at Dongguk University.

Flag-waving children, colourful balloons and a long red carpet: Take a look at these scenes from Xi's stately welcome when he arrived in Pyongyang early on Monday.

Yvette Tan
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

It's been a busy few weeks for Chinese leader Xi Jinping - who had two separate meetings with US leader Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in May alone.

On 14 May, Trump landed in Beijing for a two-day summit - the first time an American president has been in the Chinese capital in almost a decade.

The trip saw both leaders stroll through the exclusive Zhongnanhai compound, attend a state banquet and hold a series of bilateral talks - a visit that has been described as more about "symbolism than substance", though a deal to purchase 200 Boeing jets did emerge days later.

Less than a week after, China hosted Putin for what was the Russian leader's 25th trip to China.

The trip - which had already been scheduled - saw both leaders speak highly of the strategic "partnership" between both countries.

"The visit comes right when Xi himself has been hosting a range of leaders... so an impression is that Xi and the PRC (People's Republic of China) are trying to demonstrate their centrality to the world," Professor Ian Chong of the National University of Singapore told the BBC.

"That would certainly be consistent with the idea of multipolarity, a rising PRC, and even the G2 idea Beijing seems to be pushing... that said, for all the attention the PRC has been getting and its demonstrations of coercive might in the maritime space in the Western Pacific, it continues to face serious economic headwinds."

Xi and Kim also went to the Central Cadre School of the Workers' Party of Korea this morning, Xinhua reported.

The school is North Korea's top political education institute.

The two leaders dropped in to observe a lecture, toured the campus by electric vehicle and planted a fir tree that symbolised China and North Korea's evergreen friendship, Xinhua reported.

Image source, Xinhua

Image source, Xinhua

Xi and Kim, along with their wives, visited the China-North Korea Friendship Tower this morning, according to Chinese state news outlet Xinhua.

The tower commemorates Chinese soldiers who fought in the Korean war, and Xi and Kim observed a moment of silence for the soldiers during their visit.

The two leaders agreed to continue the "spirit of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea", Xinhua reported.

Image source, Xinhua

During their talks on Monday, Kim said that North Korea would continue to uphold its friendship with China as a top priority, according to a readout published by state news outlet KCNA hours ago.

Kim also noted that Pyongyang being chosen as the destination for Xi's first state visit of the year shows the "utmost importance" placed on biltaeral ties.

The visit is a reminder of the strength of this friendship, even amid "upheaval in international affairs", he added.

Kim also reaffirmed his support for Beijing's "One China" principle as well as the policies of the Chinese Communist Party.

Image source, KCNA

Xi is accompanied on the state visit by some of the most important people in his government.

There's Cai Qi, the fifth-ranking member of the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo leadership and Xi's de facto chief of staff. Cai was recently appointed head of the Central Party school, an elite institution that trains senior Chinese officials - a move that speaks to his closeness to the Chinese leader.

Also in Pyongyang is defence minister Dong Jun, who notably skipped the Shangri-La Dialogue - an Asian defence summit and rare chance for Chinese and US officials to interact - last month for the second year in a row.

Also in Pyongyang are foreign minister Wang Yi, who had visited in April, and commerce minister Wang Wentao.

Laignee Barron
BBC World Service

Burgeoning ties with Russia have put Kim Jong Un in a better negotiating position than in 2019, analysts say.

“Pyongyang now has an alternative source of diplomatic and economic support, reducing its dependence on Beijing,” said Eun-ju Choi, an expert on North Korean economic systems at the Seoul-based Sejong Institute.

It's likely that Kim will use this newfound sway to secure concrete takeaways - such as expanded trade, energy and food assistance, as well as more Chinese tourists - from the summit, she added.

Ahead of the leaders’ meeting, Beijing restarted passenger train service to Pyongyang as well as direct flights from China’s flag carrier, as Pyongyang opens its doors wider after sealing its borders in 2020,

Prior to the pandemic, Chinese tourists constituted the majority of foreign travellers to North Korea, with the 350,000 who visited in 2019 providing a notable revenue stream for Pyongyang, according to NK News.

Last evening, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan were treated to an elaborate evening performance at the Pyongyang Gymnasium. Here's a look at how it went:

Ian Tang
BBC Monitoring

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between China and North Korea.

Signed in 1961, it is considered China's only legally binding defence pact with any country, and demonstrates Beijing's commitment to and influence on Pyongyang.

Article 2 of the Treaty stated that "in the event of one of the contracting parties being subjected to the armed attack by any state or several states jointly and thus being involved in a state of war, the other contracting party shall immediately render military and other assistance by all means at its disposal."

Although the China-North Korea relationship has waxed and waned over time, both countries have continued to keep the Treaty in force, with the last renewal taking place in 2021.

However, North Korea also signed a similar pact with Russia in June 2024, which soured Beijing's relations with Pyongyang.

Image source, Xinhua

China and North Korea are "linked by mountains and rivers and share a common destiny", Xi said in a speech during a dinner banquet last night, as reported by Chinese state news outlet Xinhua.

Xi also said that he had "reached [an] important consensus" with Kim to "grasp the trend of the times" and to deepen both high-level cooperation and people-to-people bonds.

Image source, Xinhua

During his two-day visit to North Korea, Xi is staying in Kumsusan State Guest House, an exclusive residence in the heart of Pyongyang.

The Kumsusan guest house, built in 2019, is located near the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun - a mausoleum housing the bodies of North Korea's previous supreme leaders, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

The guest house was reportedly built ahead of Xi's visit to Pyongyang in 2019. Since then, it has hosted foreign leaders in recent years, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko.

Kim Jong Un is China's ally - but has become the 'comrade from hell'published at 03:17 BST

03:17 BST

Laura Bicker
China correspondent

China is moving to stabilise and reset its relationship with North Korea amid Pyongyang's growing alliance with Russia.

Concern in Beijing rose to a head in late 2024 as reports of North Korea deploying thousands of troops to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine started emerging. Pyongyang reportedly receives financial compensation and military technology in exchange for these troops.

It increasingly appears as though China’s sanctioned neighbours are spiralling out of its control. Beijing, the senior partner in the triad, seeks to be the stable leader of a new world order, one that is not led by the US.

But that’s difficult to do when one ally has started a war in Europe and another is accused of aiding the invasion.

Analysts have noted that Kim has consistently flattered Putin over Xi in recent years - calling the Russian leader his "closest comrade", for example.

But even as Moscow may offer Pyongyang military and technological support, China remains North Korea’s only true economic lifeline, some analysts say.

If you're just joining us now - here's a recap of why exactly Xi is in North Korea: