Chinese President Xi to visit North Korea this week Xi Jinping will visit North Korea this week, state media said on Monday, marking the first visit there by a Chinese president in more than a decade. In Pyongyang workers have been pruning bushes and replanting flowerbeds on the approaches to the Friendship Tower monument, which commemorates the millions of Chinese troops Mao Zedong sent to save the forces of Kim's grandfather Kim Il Sung from defeat during the Korean War. IMAGES of workers near the Friendship tower, the Kim Il Sung Stadium and the train station. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES IMAGES