President Xi Jinping welcomed to North Korea with ceremony

Chinese President Xi Jinping receives a lavish welcome as he arrives in North Korea for a rare visit expected to focus on reasserting China's unique influence over the North in return for providing economic and political benefits. China's foreign ministry says President Xi will discuss the nuclear issue with Kim Jun Un adding China's position and policy on the Korean Peninsula issue remains consistent and stable.

The airport building shows the national flags of China and Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK. President Xi Jinping's plane arriving Monday for a two-day trip the first visit by China's leader in seven years. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju welcome Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan upon their arrival at Pyongyang's international airport. And a guard of honour awaits the visiting Chinese leader.

Thousands of people including children carrying balloons staged a welcome ceremony for Xi at Kim Il Sung Square. In a signed article published prior to his arrival on Monday in Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the DPRK, Xi said he looks forward to meeting with Kim to discuss the traditional friendship between the two countries, and exchange views on the overall development of bilateral relations.

FOSTER KLUG, The Associated Press said It's a high stakes visit between the leaders of two countries who used to boast of a relationship in the mid-20th century that was described as closer than lips and teeth.

Ties have grown colder over recent decades, and North Korea has turned more to Russia, sending troops and weapons to support the war against Ukraine. From Xi's perspective, this visit is an attempt to increase influence on a country that still gets most of its aid from China.

Beijing has long worried that instability in the authoritarian nuclear-armed North could seriously damage China if it spilled over the border. Kim meanwhile is looking to cultivate a bloc of like-minded countries to counter American influence in Asia. Stronger ties with China will help Kim to break further out of isolation in a standoff with Washington over North Korea's illicit nuclear programme.