PYONGYANG, North Korea -- The highest-level Chinese envoy to North Korea in two years arrived in the country's capital Friday to try to improve relations that have soured over Beijing's tightening of sanctions and expressions of support for U.S. President Donald Trump's calls for more pressure on the North to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
Song Tao's official mission is to brief North Korean officials on the outcome of China's ruling Communist Party congress held last month. He is visiting as President Xi Jinping's special envoy, according to Chinese and North Korean state media, but no other details about his itinerary or whether he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have been announced.
After arriving, Song met with Choe Ryong Hae, a vice chairman of the ruling party and one of the most senior leaders after Kim.
The visit is seen as an effort by Xi to explore a new approach in relations. It comes as Washington has pressured Xi to act.
China's relations with North Korea have deteriorated under Kim, who has ignored Beijing's calls to end the North's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests and return to disarmament talks.
North Korea staged its sixth nuclear test Sept. 3, detonating what it said was a hydrogen bomb, and most recently launched a ballistic missile Sept. 15, firing it over the Japanese island of Hokkaido into the Pacific Ocean.
China, North Korea's largest trading partner, says its influence with Kim's government is often exaggerated by the U.S. and others. Beijing is opposed to measures that could bring down Kim's regime and lead to a refugee crisis along its border, and while enforcing harsh new U.N. sanctions targeting North Korea's sources of foreign currency it has called for steps to renew dialogue.
The visit comes as Joseph Yun, the U.S. envoy for North Korea, met Friday with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Do-hoon, on the resort island of Jeju in South Korea.
"China, of course, has a big role to play on Northeast Asia security issues," Yun was quoted by South Korea's Yonhap news agency as saying, adding that he hopes China "regards the denuclearization as a critical goal. We do hope that special envoy will forward that goal."
Song's visit to North Korea also comes as China and South Korea are repairing their relations that soured over Seoul's deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is to visit China next month for talks with Xi.
Elsewhere, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged Friday to bolster his country's defenses, calling the threat from North Korea the gravest security concern Japan has faced since World War II.
Outlining his priorities in a speech to parliament, Abe described North Korea's nuclear and missile tests that flew over Japan as a national crisis.
He promised concrete action to respond to what he called "escalating provocations" by North Korea.
"We will strengthen Japanese defense power, including missile defense capabilities, in order to protect the people's lives and peace," he said.
Abe called on the international community to put more pressure on North Korea to persuade it to change its policies.
Information for this article was contributed by Mari Yamaguchi of The Associated Press.
A Section on 11/18/2017