North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho arrived in Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, a week after Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong Un made a surprise trip to China before planned summits with the US and South Korean presidents.
The latest visit, disclosed by China's foreign ministry, is part of a flurry of diplomacy that has eased regional tensions after months of bellicose rhetoric between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear program.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman did not say when Wang would meet Ri.
The spokesman, Geng Shuang, indicated that the visit would be short. Wang is scheduled to be in Russia on Wednesday.
"Details on the meeting will be provided in a timely manner," Geng said.
North Korea's official KCNA news agency said Ri was heading a government delegation that left on Tuesday for a conference of foreign ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement in Azerbaijan.
Ri will also visit Russia and other former Soviet states.
Kim last week met President Xi Jinping on his first trip abroad since inheriting power from his father Kim Jong Il in December 2011.
China is the North's only significant ally and trade partner, but ties had cooled since it began enforcing UN sanctions aimed at curbing its neighbor's nuclear and missile programs.
Kim's secretive visit was dubbed "unofficial" but bore all the trappings of an official state occasion, with honor guards, bouquets, red carpets and meetings with most of China's top leaders.
Kim is now due to hold a summit with South Korea's Moon Jae-in on April 27 and a landmark meeting with US President Donald Trump is also planned -- events that give both Pyongyang and Beijing new incentives to repair their strained relationship.
Wang hoped on Tuesday that the summit can advance smoothly and that all sides maintain focus and avoid “disruptive factors”.
He said there had been positive changes on the Korean peninsula and that all sides were engaging in “sincere exchanges”.
“China hopes all sides can cherish this hard to come by situation, maintain the momentum of contact and dialogue, and create conditions to smoothly restart dialogue,” Wang said during a joint news briefing with visiting Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis.
he hoped the Kim-Trump summit would “increase mutual understanding”.
“But historical experience tells us that at the moment of easing of the situation on the peninsula and as first light dawns on peace and dialogue, frequently all manner of disruptive factors emerge,” the minister added.
“So we call on all sides to maintain focus, eliminate interference, and firmly follow the correct path of dialogue and negotiation.”
Cassis said that he would discuss with Wang the role that Switzerland could play in the strategic meetings between Kim and “some important partners on the international level”, but he did not elaborate.
