China–North Korea relations

China's top legislator and a senior North Korean official emphasised opening a "new chapter" of Beijing-Pyongyang relations, the North's state media said Saturday, as they met for one of the most high-level talks between the allies in years.

China's vice foreign minister met with North Korea's top diplomats in Pyongyang on Friday, state media said, as the nuclear-armed state has accelerated its weapons testing and threats toward Seoul in recent months.

North Korea has launched its first "tactical nuclear attack submarine" as part of its effort to strengthen its naval force, state media said Friday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over the unveiling ceremony on Wednesday, saying the sub was part of a "push forward with the nuclear weaponisation of the Navy", according to state news agency KCNA.

BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea leader Kim Jong Un is in China on a two-day visit, Chinese state television said on Tuesday, his third visit to the North's major ally this year.

Kim will be in China on Tuesday and Wednesday but the brief report gave no other details.

China's top diplomat told Donald Trump that Beijing was willing to keep working with Washington to defuse tensions on the Korean peninsula -- days after the U.S. leader implied that Chinese efforts had failed.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has urged Chinese officials to apply greater diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea to force Pyongyang to rein in its nuclear weapons program.