Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in North Korea, where he will seek to draw fellow dictator Kim Jong-un closer after years of growing ties between Pyongyang and Moscow.

Thousands of North Korean soldiers have fought on the side of Moscow in Russia’s war on Ukraine, while Pyongyang’s arms sales to Moscow have also boosted its economy.

Meanwhile, North Korea’s ties to Beijing have been strained by a virtual freeze in trade during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as by Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, which China has long opposed. For Xi, “North Korea is the neighbour China can neither control nor afford to lose,” the BBC’s China correspondent wrote.