Chinese President Xi Jinping has returned to Pyongyang’s Kumsusan State Guest House, the highly secluded counterpart to Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guest House.

Xi began a two-day state visit to North Korea on Monday. He was welcomed at the airport by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, before attending a welcoming ceremony at Pyongyang’s Kim Il-sung Square and then heading on to the guest house.

The guest house, completed in 2019, was first publicly used during Xi’s visit to North Korea that year.

Before its construction, North Korea primarily hosted foreign dignitaries at the Paekhwawon guest house, built in 1983.

Then Chinese presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao both stayed at Paekhwawon during their visits to Pyongyang, as did former US president Jimmy Carter.

Near the Kumsusan guest house lies the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun – North Korea’s most sacred political site.