North Korean leader visits Beijing as China-US trade war heats up
BEIJING — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Beijing on Tuesday amid an escalating trade conflict between China and the United States, one that gives him an opening to play the powers against each other as Washington presses him to dismantle his nuclear arsenal.
“This could be regarded as an intuitive response to Trump’s escalation of the trade war,” Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, said of China’s invitation to Kim.
The surprise trip, just a week after his landmark summit meeting in Singapore with President Trump, is the North Korean leader’s third visit to China since March.