Another government source was cited as saying a team of Chinese security service and protocol officials were in Pyongyang recently and that a visit by Xi late in May or early June was likely.

Xi, who hosted US president Donald Trump last week, will try to act as a mediator between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the senior official was quoted as saying.

South Korea’s foreign ministry did not immediately comment on the report.

China is a key economic and political ally of North Korea and the two have made efforts to reinforce ties that had cooled during the Covid-19 pandemic.

North Korean leader Kim visited Beijing last year and stood alongside Xi and Russian president Vladimir Putin at a major military parade.

Trump, who met Kim three times in his first term to negotiate the North’s nuclear programme, has said he would be open to meeting the North Korean leader again and that he had a good relationship with him.