Xi Jinping urges stronger China-North Korea ‘combat friendship forged in blood’

President Xi Jinping met North Korean Premier Pak Thae‑song in Beijing on Friday, urging a strengthening of the “combat friendship forged in blood” and expanded strategic coordination on the eve of the 65th anniversary of their mutual defence treaty.
Pak’s three-day trip comes just weeks after Xi’s state visit to North Korea last month, the Chinese leader’s first overseas journey this year and his first to Pyongyang in seven years. The trip was widely seen as signalling a warming of relations...