Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korea's Kim Jong-un in China with their wives earlier this year. Photo: Xinhua/Huang Jingwen via Getty Images
Chinese President Xi Jinping will head to North Korea this week, marking the first visit by a Chinese leader since 2005, AP reports.
The big picture: Xi's visit comes as U.S.-North Korea relations have been largely deadlocked after President Trump's Vietnam summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un earlier this year ended without any tangible progress on denuclearization. Xi and Kim are set to discuss their views on "the situation on the Korean Peninsula" and celebrate the 70th year of diplomatic relations between their nations.