HONG KONG _ Chinese President Xi Jinping is dispatching a special envoy to visit North Korea this week, a week after he hosted U.S. counterpart Donald Trump in Beijing.
Song Tao, head of the Chinese Communist Party's International Liaison Department, will visit Pyongyang on Friday to brief North Korea officials about last month's party congress, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. The department is by tradition responsible for handling relations with fellow socialist countries such as North Korea.
It's tradition for China to give briefings to allies after the congress, but the timing may have some kind of message to convey to North Korea. The isolated nation was on top of Trump's agenda on his visit to Beijing, when he called on China to put more pressure on its ally.
