Xi is the highest-level Chinese official to visit North Korea since Pyongyang tested a nuclear weapon in October 2006, the China News Service said.

The Chinese vice president, widely seen as the front-runner to succeed President Hu Jintao in 2012, was expected to address the six-party talks aimed at North Korea's denuclearisation, Chinese officials said.

"Vice President Xi Jinping will exchange views on issues of common concern, including the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said when announcing the trip earlier this month.

The visit was Xi's first trip abroad since he was elected vice president in March, Qin said. Following his stopover in Pyongyang, he will travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Yemen.

North Korea agreed last year to disable nuclear plants at its key Yongbyon facility in exchange for aid and diplomatic recognition in a deal reached with the United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.

As part of the six-party agreement, Pyongyang was to hand over a full declaration of all its nuclear activities by the end of 2007.

But disputes over the declaration have delayed the start of the final phase of the process -- the permanent dismantling of the plants and the handover of all atomic material.

Chinese officials refused to say whether Xi would seek to push Pyongyang to hand over the declaration during his talks, which were likely to include discussions with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.

But analysts said Beijing would be expecting North Korea to make a reciprocal gesture for the visit of a man likely to become China's top leader in the coming years.

"North Korea wanted a visit by a senior Chinese leader, but China has been careful not to give away this card," said Brian Bridges, a North Korea expert at Hong Kong's Lingnan University.

"China would not have sent their rising star (Xi), without expecting something back in return," Bridges told AFP.

Meanwhile, chief negotiators from South Korea, the United States and Japan were to meet this week in Tokyo to discuss the resumption of talks on scrapping Pyongyang's nuclear programme.

All rights reserved. © 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.