UPDATE 2-China's Xi may visit North Korea as early as next week, Yonhap reports

Chinese President Xi Jinping may ​visit North Korea as early ‌as ​next week and will try to act as a mediator between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and ‌U.S. President Donald Trump, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, quoting a senior government official.

Chinese President Xi Jinping may ​visit North Korea as early ‌as ​next week and will try to act as a mediator between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and ‌U.S. President Donald Trump, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, quoting a senior government official. Another government source was cited by Yonhap as saying a team of Chinese security service ‌and protocol officials was in Pyongyang recently and that a visit by Xi ‌late in May or early June was likely. Xi, who hosted Trump last week, will try to act as a mediator between Trump and North Korea's Kim, the senior official was quoted as ⁠saying in ​the report released ⁠late on Wednesday.

Trump, who met Kim three times in his first term to negotiate the North's ⁠nuclear programme, has said he would be open to meeting the North Korean leader again ​and that he had a good relationship with him. South Korea's foreign ministry ⁠said the government hopes exchanges between North Korea and China contribute to peace and stability on the ⁠Korean ​peninsula and that China can play a constructive role, while declining to comment directly on the report of Xi's visit.

China is a key economic and political ⁠ally of North Korea and the two have made efforts to reinforce ties that ⁠had cooled during ⁠the COVID-19 pandemic. North Korean leader Kim visited Beijing last year and stood alongside Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin at ‌a major military ‌parade.