High-level Chinese delegation to visit North Korea
North Korea is planning a "grand" Korean War armistice anniversary celebration this week that will be attended by Chinese diplomats, the first known foreign visitors to the country since Pyongyang's 2020 pandemic border closure.  State media said that Pyongyang will mark 70 years since the signing of the armistice, known as Victory Day in the North, in a "grand manner that will go down in history". The official Korean Central News Agency reported, and Beijing confirmed, that a Chinese delegation led by Politburo member and NPC Standing Committee vice-chairman Li Hongzhong would travel to the North for the event.  North Korea has been under a rigid self-imposed coronavirus blockade since early 2020 to protect itself from Covid-19, which has prevented even its own nationals from entering the country.  It only resumed some trade with China last year, and allowed Beijing's new envoy to take up his position earlier this year.  Beijing said the delegation would travel to Pyongyang on Wednesday, suggesting they would not be required to undergo an extensive quarantine ahead of the Thursday anniversary event.  An armistice agreement ending Korean War hostilities was signed on July 27, 1953 but the two Koreas remain technically at war because the agreement was never replaced by a peace treaty. (AFP)