North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has arrived for a two-day visit in China, where he is expected to discuss with Chinese leaders his next steps after his summit with US President Donald Trump. Kims visit beginning on Tuesday is the third trip he made to China in three months, and comes exactly a week after his historic meeting with the US leader in Singapore on June 12. Trump agreed to work with Kim toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, committed to provide the Norths regime with security guarantees and pledged to end war games, which Pyongyang and Beijing have long seen as provocative. On Tuesday South Korea and the Pentagon announced they would halt the annual Freedom Guardian military drill scheduled for August. Chinese media confirmed Kims visit to Beijing, and the state-run CCTV said the North Korean leader will stay in China from Tuesday to Wednesday. It did not provide more details. Kim reportedly took an Air Koryo flight to Beijing, and headed straight to the Diaoyutai state guest house, according to South Koreas Yonhap news agency. Chinese President Xi Jinping is exerting a lot of influence from behind the scenes, said Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Glaser said it was predictable Xi would want to be briefed by Kim directly about the North Korean leaders talks with Trump. I expect they will talk about the path going forward and where priorities should lie, Glaser said. Those priorities, from Chinas perspective, would be to ensure that Beijing is included in any peace treaty talks and for creating an environment on the Korean Peninsula that will make it unnecessary for US troops to remain. Cheng Xiaohe, an associate professor at Renmin Universitys School of International Studies in Beijing, said the frequency of Kims visits was unprecedented. He noted that unlike on previous visits, Chinas state broadcaster CCTV announced Kims visit before his departure. This is an improvement. This shows that China is moving toward a healthier and more normal direction in relations with North Korea, Cheng said. Al Jazeera
