Kim and Xi agree to boost ties at North Korea summit

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and China's Xi Jinping have agreed to expand co-operation in the areas of politics, economy and culture at a summit in Pyongyang that opened a new chapter in ties, the North's official KCNA news agency says.

Making his first visit in seven years to China's only formal treaty ally, Xi told Kim he aimed to drive progress in ties, and both agreed to strive for closer strategic communication through visits by high-level officials, KCNA said on Tuesday.

Kim told Xi he would fully support the "One China principle", which Beijing viewed as meaning that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belonged to one country, regardless of changes in the international situation, it said.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under Beijing's control, although Taipei rejects the sovereignty claims.

On Tuesday, Xi visited Pyongyang's Sino-Korean Friendship Tower that commemorates Chinese soldiers who died in the Korean War, China's official Xinhua news agency said.

It was not immediately clear if the leaders planned further talks, but they jointly planted a fir tree in the grounds of a key political training school for party cadres, which Xinhua said symbolised "ever-renewing friendship".

Despite the expressions of goodwill, however, analysts saw contrasting priorities in the official summaries of the visit.

While Xinhua detailed proposals ranging from high-level exchanges to trade and agriculture, along with restoration of transport links, KCNA cast the summit more broadly as a pact of equal partners, the analysts said.

Pyongyang stressed regime dignity and the neighbours' "special relationship," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at South Korea's Kyungnam University, while Beijing emphasised practical state-to-state ties and its initiatives for international order.

"North Korea removed elements that could make it look like a subordinate, dependent or beneficiary party, and rewrote the relationship as one between equals," said Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

"It amplified signals of solidarity, such as anti-US and Taiwan-related messages, while erasing signals of dependence or subordination."

China is North Korea's biggest trade partner and analysts have said Xi's trip could focus on trade and tourism.

Xi and first lady Peng Liyuan attended a performance of Chinese and North Korean songs, accompanied by Kim and his wife, Ri Sol-ju, along with high-ranking officials.

The songs highlighted "the value and closeness of DPRK-China friendship", KCNA said, referring to the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Kim also hosted a banquet for Xi and his delegation, at which Xi voiced his desire to "share friendship" with Kim, the news agency said.

Chinese-North Korean relations had reached a "new historical starting point", Xi said at the event marking the 65th anniversary of the neighbours' friendship treaty, KCNA said.

Xi vowed that Beijing would not swerve from its commitment to safeguard common interests, Xinhua said on Monday.

But North Korean media did not say if Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program or relations with the United States figured in the talks.

Xi was set to return to China on Tuesday afternoon.

with AP