Following US President Donald Trump's visit to China, he and Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed their "shared goal" of denuclearizing North Korea, the White House press service said.
“President Trump and President Xi Jinping reaffirmed their shared goal of denuclearizing North Korea”, the statement said.
The leaders also agreed that Iran should not have nuclear weapons and supported reopening the Strait of Hormuz. They also agreed that no country or organization should be allowed to impose fees for passage through the sea route.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimates that as of January 2025, North Korea possessed approximately 50 nuclear warheads and had enough fissile material to produce up to 40 more. Production of new nuclear material is also accelerating.
In July 2024, South Korean authorities announced that North Korea was in the “final stages“ of developing tactical nuclear weapons. In November 2024, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for “unlimited“ expansion of the country's nuclear program. In April 2026, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stated that North Korea had achieved “very significant“ progress in its nuclear program, in particular through the construction of a uranium enrichment facility.
In August 2025, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyon and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea. At the same time, both sides stressed the need for strict compliance with international sanctions against North Korea and expressed concern about its military cooperation with Russia.
The issue of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was already on the US agenda during Trump's first term. Pyongyang thus committed to denuclearizing these territories in exchange for security guarantees from the United States after the first meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore in 2018. In March 2019, the State Department projected complete denuclearization of North Korea by 2021, with the proviso that Washington would not artificially set any deadlines for Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear program.
In December of that year, however, North Korea's representative to the United Nations, Kim Song, stated that denuclearization was no longer a subject of negotiations with the United States. "We do not need long negotiations with the United States, and denuclearization is no longer on the agenda of negotiations," he said.
Trump arrived in China on May 13; it was his first visit to China since 2017. The first talks between the leaders took place on May 14. On that day, the parties discussed trade restrictions and the Taiwan issue, as well as the conflict between Washington and Tehran. Shortly after the meeting, Trump announced China's offer to help the United States secure shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
On May 15, the third day of the visit, Trump and Xi Jinping met at the Chinese leader's state residence. After the meeting, the US president said that the two countries had reached “fantastic trade deals“.
Later, the White House revealed details of the agreements, which cover the creation of new mechanisms for trade and investment cooperation, the supply of American products and the purchase of Boeing aircraft for Chinese airlines.