The call came as President Xi Jinping met with a delegation from DPRK's ruling Worker's Party, at which he expressed support for the DPRK's avowed new emphasis on economic development, along with improving relations with the Republic of Korea (RoK).
"China backs the improvement of inter-Korean ties, the advancement of dialogue between the DPRK and the United States, and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Xi said.
"China supports the DPRK in developing its economy and improving its people's livelihood, and supports Chairman Kim in leading the Party and the people of DPRK to take a development path suitable to its own national situation," Xi said.
Xi pledged to strengthen exchanges of experiences in party and state governance in the hope of promoting better development of the two countries' socialist causes.
Kim and Trump are due to meet in Singapore on June 12, but DPRK on May 16 threatened to call off the historic summit over ongoing military exercises between the US and RoK, and protested US demands for a "unilateral" dismantlement of its nuclear weapons program.
US President Donald Trump said May 16 that he will see "what happens" as to the fate of his planned meeting with DPRK leader Kim Jong-un.
"No decision. We haven't been notified at all. We'll have to see," Trump said at the start of a meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. "We haven't seen anything. We haven't heard anything. We will see what happens."
Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton said he spoke by phone with his RoK counterpart, Chung Eui-yong, following the DPRK threat to pull out of the summit.
Meanwhile, RoK apparently believes DPRK is still faithful to its commitment to denuclearize despite the state's decision to indefinitely suspend its cross-border dialogue with the RoK, an official from the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae indicated on May 16.
"We believe the current situation is part of a difficult process to draw the same picture and that it is a pain we must endure to get good results," Yoon Young-chan, the senior press secretary to President Moon Jae-in, said in a statement.
