Chinese President Xi Jinping met North Korean Cabinet Premier Pak Thae Song in Beijing on Friday, according to Chinese state media.

Beijing’s official Xinhua news agency reported the news of the meeting on Friday, without providing additional information about the agenda of their discussions.

Pak’s meeting with the Chinese leader came at the start of his two-day visit to Beijing for celebrations marking the anniversary of the China-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, signed on July 11, 1961.

North Korea remains China’s only formal ally, with the two countries bound by mutual defense obligations under the 1961