U.S. highlights Trump, Xi's shared goal of denuclearizing N. Korea ahead of Xi's Pyongyang trip

WASHINGTON, June 5 (Yonhap) -- The State Department said Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed their shared goal of denuclearizing North Korea during their summit in Beijing last month, as Xi is set to travel to Pyongyang next week.

Xi plans to visit the North on Monday and Tuesday in what would be his first trip there since 2019, according to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency.

The remarks apparently reflected the Trump administration's hope for Xi to play a role in bringing North Korea back to dialogue and encouraging it to move toward denuclearization.

On Thursday, the State Department reaffirmed that the Trump administration remains open to dialogue with Pyongyang "without preconditions," and that it remains committed to the "complete" denuclearization of North Korea.