Chinese President Jiang Zemin will visit North Korea from September 3 to 5, China's official Xinhua news agency reported Monday.
The "goodwill visit" will take place at the invitation of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il, the news agency reported, citing the Chinese communist party's international department.
The agency gave no other details about the purpose of Jiang's visit to the reclusive country.
The official North Korean news agency KCNA, monitored in Seoul, also confirmed that Jiang would pay an "official goodwill visit" at Kim's invitation.
An Asian diplomat told AFP last week Jiang's visit would be aimed at discussing policy with the Stalinist regime ahead of a Sino-US summit slated for October.
Jiang had been expected to make the visit towards the end of September, and it was unclear why the dates were changed, the diplomat said.
Zeng Qinghong, Jiang's closest advisor, visited Pyongyang in March, reportedly in order to prepare the ground for the visit.
Jiang's trip will be the latest in series of diplomatic maneuverings over North Korea and follows two secretive trips by Kim to China, in May last year and in January of this.
Kim has just wrapped up a high-profile month-long trip to Russia during which he signed a declaration saying his country's missile program was not a threat to any country that respects North Korean sovereignty.
He also renewed a promise not to conduct ballistic missile launches until 2003.
North Korea's missile programme alarms the United States, which has used the threat of so-called "rogue" states to push plans to build a missile defense shield.
Jiang's trip will come six weeks before US President George W. Bush makes his inaugural visit to China to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum meeting in Shanghai.
Bush is to hold summit talks with Jiang during which North Korea's missile programme is expected to feature prominently.
Beijing and Pyongyang have had close relations since Chinese forces fought on the North Korean side during the 1950-53 Korean War, although they cooled after China forged diplomatic ties with South Korea in 1992.
The two sides have moved closer again in recent years and Kim's first visit in May last year was seen as a mission to seek Chinese guidance ahead of his landmark summit with South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung -- BEIJING (AFP)
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