• Chinese President Xi Jinping holds 6th summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
• Kim, who attended military parade in Beijing on Wednesday, says China-North Korea relations to stay 'consistent'

ISTANBUL 

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday said that Beijing is "ready to consolidate" relations with Pyongyang, as he hosted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for a summit in Beijing, an official statement said.

Beijing "attaches great importance" to the "friendship" between China and North Korea which “are good neighbors, good friends and good comrades who share a common destiny and stand by each other,” said Xi, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The 72-year-old Xi stressed that Beijing "is willing to maintain, consolidate, and develop relations.”

“No matter how the international landscape may evolve, this position will stay unchanged,” said the Chinese leader, pledging support to Pyongyang “in pursuing a development path suited to its national conditions.”

Thursday's Beijing summit marks their sixth such bilateral meeting since 2018.

Xi said Kim’s attendance at the 80th anniversary of the victory of the “Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression” and the “World Anti-Fascist War” demonstrates North Korea’s “firm commitment to safeguarding the fruits of the victory of World War II.”

China held its largest military parade on Wednesday, with 26 foreign leaders in attendance, to mark the surrender of Japan, which ended World War II in 1945.

It “provides an important opportunity for further advancing friendship and cooperation between the two Parties and two countries,” he added.

China will strengthen interactions and cooperation at all levels, Xi said, emphasizing Beijing's "objective and impartial position" on the Korean peninsula.

Beijing is willing to strengthen coordination with Pyongyang to do "its utmost to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," he added.  

Deepening ties with China a ‘firm conviction,’ says Kim

Noting that deepening ties with China was a “firm conviction” of North Korea, Kim thanked China for “its long-standing, unwavering support” for the “valuable assistance and help provided.”

“No matter how the international situation may change, the friendly sentiment" between Pyongyang and Beijing “will not change,” said Kim, according to the ministry statement from Beijing.

Kim, for his part, stressed that China-North Korea relations will "stay consistent despite international situation changes," while also thanking Beijing for "its long-term, unwavering, valuable support."

The North Korean leader said the military parade “demonstrates China’s firm commitment to upholding world peace, and underscores China’s significant international stature and influence.”

He recalled the “profound friendship” forged by the older generation of North Korea and Chinese leaders during the war, and the two sides “are duty-bound to carry the legacy into future generations.”

Chinese people helped Koreans against the Japanese colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula, which later split into two during the Korean War of the 1950s.

Kim lauded China for its “just position on the Korean Peninsula issue,” and said Pyongyang “stands ready to step up coordination with China” at the UN and other multilateral platforms to uphold the common and fundamental interests of the two sides.

The North Korean leader said Pyongyang is willing to "deepen mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation" between countries.

According to economic data from Beijing, China's exports to North Korea in the first half of 2025 grew 33% to $1.05 billion, while imports rose 20% to $210 million.

The bilateral trade climbed to around $2.2 billion at the end of 2023.

The meeting between Xi and Kim comes as North Korea’s ties with Russia have grown closer over the past few years.

Kim held his fourth bilateral summit with Putin in Beijing on Wednesday, where the North Korean leader pledged “full support” to Russia amid its war with Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Kim's train left Beijing Railway Station on Thursday night, the Seoul-based Yonhap news agency reported.