Kim receives a message from Xi as North Korea conducts an unprecedented number of missile launches.
According to the official Korean Central News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping has informed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that Beijing is eager to cooperate with Pyongyang for world peace and stability (KCNA).
The revelation on Saturday came days after North Korea conducted one of its most powerful ICBM tests, saying it would use its own nuclear weapons to counter any perceived nuclear threats from the United States.
North Korea has conducted a record-breaking blitz of missile launches in recent weeks and fears have grown that it is building up to a seventh nuclear test, its first since 2017.
In his message to Kim, Xi said Beijing was ready to work together for “peace, stability, development, and prosperity of the region and the world”, KCNA reported.
Xi said he was willing to collaborate with Pyongyang as “changes in the world, times, and history are taking place in unprecedented ways”, KCNA said, quoting from the message it said was received in response to congratulations from Kim after the Chinese Communist Party Congress last month handed Xi a third term.
Days before North Korea’s ICBM launch, Xi met on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Bali with US President Joe Biden, who voiced confidence that Beijing does not want to see a further escalation by Pyongyang.
Washington has said it wants China, Pyongyang’s most important ally and economic benefactor, to use its influence to help rein in North Korea.
The November 18 missile launch appeared to be Pyongyang’s newest ICBM with the potential range to hit the US mainland.
The United Nations Security Council convened an open meeting over the launch, with the US, the United Kingdom, France, and India among 14 nations to “strongly condemn” Pyongyang’s actions.
But a Western diplomat told the AFP news agency that China and Russia had chosen not to put their names to Monday’s statement.
Earlier this month, the US had accused Beijing and Moscow of protecting Pyongyang from further punishment.
Pyongyang is already under multiple sets of international sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, and China accounts for more than 90 percent of the impoverished country’s bilateral trade.