Crossing NK | June 9, 2026
On May 15, following the U.S.-China summit in Beijing, the White House officially announced that “President Trump and President Xi confirmed their shared goal to denuclearize North Korea.” Just three weeks later, Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang, spent two days with Kim Jong Un — and said nothing about denuclearization. Not a single word. Why?
What Was Actually Said at the U.S.-China Summit
The White House declared a shared goal of denuclearization. But the Chinese readout made no mention of it — only that the two leaders had discussed “regional issues including the Korean Peninsula.” The United States called it a shared goal. Whether China ever truly shared that goal remains unclear.
That Xi visited Pyongyang just three weeks after the Beijing summit is hard to see as coincidental. The timing strongly suggests the two events are connected.
Was It a Choice — Deliberate Silence?
The first possibility is that Xi never intended to raise denuclearization in Pyongyang.
If the real purpose of this visit was to secure military cooperation for a potential Taiwan contingency, denuclearization was never on the agenda. The summit table was unusually flanked by the defense ministers of both nations. Xi explicitly called for strengthening military exchanges and cooperation between the two countries’ armed forces — for the first time in any China-North Korea summit. There was clearly a more important agenda than denuclearization.
China originally did not want North Korea to have nuclear weapons — a nuclear-armed North Korea might stop listening to Beijing. However, that China needs North Korea to strengthen its military power at this moment seems increasingly clear. Pressing for denuclearization while trying to lock North Korea in as a military partner would be a contradiction. Silence may have been the deliberate choice.
Was It an Impossibility — A Realistic Limit?
The second possibility is that Xi wanted to raise it but simply could not.
North Korea’s nuclear program is Kim Jong Un’s survival guarantee. Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed in his memoir that Kim told him directly: “Without the nuclear program, it’s over.” If Xi raised denuclearization and Kim refused, Xi would lose face — and risk pushing North Korea completely into Russia’s orbit.
North Korea has already signed a mutual defense treaty with Russia and deployed troops to the Ukraine front. For Xi, losing North Korea entirely may be a worse outcome than turning a blind eye to its nuclear program. With China’s leverage over Pyongyang significantly weakened, Xi may simply not have had the cards to press the issue.
The day before Xi arrived in Pyongyang, Kim Jong Un personally inspected a nuclear material production facility and declared North Korea would expand its nuclear forces “at an exponential rate.” He also ordered expanded missile production. Was this a coincidence? Perhaps Kim was sending Xi an unspoken message before he even landed: “Don’t even bring up denuclearization.“
The Result Is the Same Either Way
Whether it was a choice or an impossibility, the outcome is identical.
Trump’s commitment was not honored. North Korea’s nuclear program remains intact.
Crossing NK’s Lens
While great powers exchange declarations about denuclearization, what is the reality for ordinary North Koreans?
As of 2024, the average North Korean worker earned less than one U.S. dollar per month. Today, one U.S. dollar is worth approximately 80,000 North Korean won — an inflation rate of 24 times in just two years. Rice prices doubled in the span of two months. While denuclearization negotiations come and go, North Koreans are going hungry.
Whatever the reason Xi said nothing about denuclearization in Pyongyang — the price of that silence is being paid by the North Korean people.
Sources: White House Fact Sheet, Korea Herald, Korea Times, UPI, Brookings Institution, Mike Pompeo memoir (May–June 2026)