President Park Geun-hye will hold her first summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on June 27, her office announced Friday, a high-stakes meeting where North Korea is expected to be a key topic.

The summit is the highlight of Park’s June 27-30 state visit to the neighboring nation that will also include a series of meetings with other newly installed top Chinese officials, a university speech and a meeting with Chinese business leaders, presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing said.

Park and Xi plan to assess the status of relations between the two countries, discuss a future vision, ways of cooperation for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia and other political, economic and social issues, Kim said.

The meeting is expected to promote China’s understanding and cooperation for the Park administration’s two signature foreign policies: the Korean Peninsula trust process, aimed at reducing tensions with North Korea, and its broader Asian version, the Northeast Asia peace and cooperation initiative, Kim said.

Economic issues expected to be on the table include ways to expand trade, including a free trade deal and boosting cooperation in science and technology, environment, finances and energy, Kim said. A series of memorandums of understanding are expected to be adopted during the visit, she said.

The Chinese visit will be Park’s second overseas trip since taking office in February. Last month, Park traveled to the United States and held her first summit talks with President Barack Obama where the sides reaffirmed they are strongly united against North Korean threats and provocations.

The upcoming summit with China comes as North Korea has launched a charm offensive after ratcheting up tensions on the Korean Peninsula for months with near-daily war threats against South Korea and the United States in the wake of a long-range rocket launch and its third nuclear test.

On Thursday, Pyongyang made a surprise offer to hold government-level talks with the South about reopening suspended joint economic projects and other issues. Seoul accepted the proposal and the two sides agreed to hold a working-level meeting on Sunday.

China is considered the only country with any meaningful influence over Pyongyang as a key provider of economic assistance and diplomatic support. But Beijing has been reluctant to use that influence over concerns that pushing the North too hard could lead to its collapse and hurt China’s own national interests.

Park has said that she will use her China trip to enlist the help of Beijing in making Pyongyang realize that its bad behavior will never be rewarded. She stressed that China is a country that can exercise “considerable influence” over North Korea.

Breaking North Korea’s behavioral pattern of seeking economic and other concessions through provocations was one of the major points of agreement that Park reached during her first meeting with Obama in Washington earlier this month. (Yonhap News)