Wang Yi, China's top diplomat and a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has expressed his desire to further deepen relations between China and North Korea during a meeting with Kim Song-nam, director of the International Department of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). Wang also serves as China's foreign minister and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs.

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Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and China's foreign minister, meets Kim Song-nam, director of the International Department of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, in Beijing on Nov. 5, 2026. /International Department of the CPC Central Committee

According to Beijing-based diplomatic sources familiar with China-North Korea relations on Thursday, Wang met a visiting Workers' Party delegation led by Kim in Beijing earlier that day.

Wang noted that bilateral relations had improved through close exchanges between the two countries, including Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to North Korea on June 8-9 and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's one-day visit to China on Oct. 24.

"The top leaders of our two parties and countries engaged in in-depth strategic communication and reached a series of important agreements," Wang said. "They charted the course for the development of China-North Korea relations in the new era."

"General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that no matter how the international situation changes, the firm position of the Chinese party and government in attaching great importance to the traditional friendship between China and North Korea will remain unchanged," Wang said.

"China's firm support for General Secretary Kim Jong Un in leading North Korea's socialist cause will also remain unchanged, as will its firm determination to safeguard the common interests of both sides and maintain a favorable strategic environment," he added.

"China is willing to work with North Korea to firmly implement the important agreements reached by the top leaders of our two parties and countries, and promote the continued development of bilateral relations in a deeper, more substantive and positive direction," Wang said. "We are also willing to bring greater benefits to our two countries and peoples."

Wang also briefed the North Korean delegation on the main outcomes of the recently concluded fifth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee.

"China is willing to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning with North Korea on experiences and approaches to party governance and state administration, thereby supporting party building and the development of socialist causes in both countries," he said.

Kim, for his part, referred to Xi's visit to North Korea.

"General Secretary Kim Jong Un and General Secretary Xi Jinping jointly established a new milestone in developing relations between the two parties and countries in line with the requirements of the new era," he said.

Referring to Kim Jong Un's visit to Dandong in China's Liaoning Province late last month, Kim Song-nam added, "The visit once again demonstrated the strategic nature of the friendship between North Korea and China, forged in blood and strengthened throughout their shared history."

"Continuously deepening relations between North Korea and China is North Korea's firm position," Kim said, according to the sources.

"North Korea is willing to work with China, in accordance with the wishes of the top leaders of our two parties and countries, to make unremitting efforts to develop friendly relations between the two countries."

Kim's visit to China is seen as an effort to share the main outcomes of the CPC's recently concluded fifth plenary session of its 20th Central Committee and strengthen ties between the two ruling parties.

The visit has also drawn attention because it comes ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit scheduled for Nov. 18-19 in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, amid growing interest in the possibility of renewed dialogue between North Korea and the United States.

Observers are therefore also considering the possibility that the two sides discussed the prospect of such talks during Kim's visit.

This raises the possibility that a historic meeting between the leaders of North Korea and the United States could take place in Shenzhen.

                                                                                                            Hong Soon-do