A high-level Chinese delegation will travel to North Korea this week, the North's official KCNA news agency reported on 24th July 2023, in the first acknowledged visit of its kind since Pyongyang shut its borders in the wake of the Covid-19 epidemic.

Chinese Communist Party politburo member Li Hongzhong will take part in celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, KCNA reported. North Korea closed its border in early 2020 to all trade and diplomatic exchanges, even with its main economic and political ally China. Monday's state media report did not say whether the visit marked any change in policy.