North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping wave to people on a street in Pyongyang on June 20. Xi was on a two-day state visit to North Korea from June 20 to 21. AP-Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

North Korean media highlighted the North Korea-China friendship while U.S. President Donald Trump was visiting Seoul at the weekend for his eighth summit with President Moon Jae-in.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun carried an article on Sunday that showed the foreign media's coverage of the recent summit between China's President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang. The North Korean article emphasized that the foreign media, including that of China, Russia, Cuba, Laos and the U.S., described the friendship between the two countries as "invincible."

The article came hours before the U.S.-South Korea summit in Seoul, where Trump emphasized his good relationship with Kim. Trump later met Kim at Panmunjeom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

Commemorating the one-year anniversary of the June 12 summit between North Korea and the U.S. in Singapore, North Korea and the U.S. are showing positive signs of resuming the stalled denuclearization talks with the leaders exchanging letters.

But the North Korean side has issued more negative messages in its recent media coverage, attacking the U.S. over sanctions on the North and for condemning Pyongyang's human rights record.

More coverage is being given to the North's friendship with China, following Xi's two-day state visit to Pyongyang from June 20 to 21. Since then, the KCNA has published articles about North Korean delegations ― including one from the Central Committee of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea (DFRK), a delegation from the Journalists Union of Korea, and a group from the Kim Chaek University of Technology ― heading to China for meetings.

Meanwhile, North Korea's propaganda outlet Uriminzokkiri on Sunday urged South Korea to take a more "independent" stance toward inter-Korean relations and not rely on the U.S. It said it was the U.S. that brought insecurity to the Korean Peninsula.

Last Friday, the KCNA slammed Seoul's plan to conduct the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise 19-2 Dongmaeng in August, saying it goes against the international community's expectations for peace on the peninsula.

The North's foreign ministry on Thursday warned the South to stop mediating between the North and the United States. Its U.S. affairs department chief Kim Jong-gun said it will "never go through" the South again when it deals with the United States. Likely due to the North's stance, Moon did not participate in talks between the U.S. and the North at the DMZ, though he accompanied Trump to the inter-Korean border.