High-level Chinese delegation to visit North Korea - KCNA

SEOUL (Reuters) - A high-level Chinese delegation will travel to North Korea this week, the North's official KCNA news agency reported on Monday, in the first acknowledged visit of its kind since Pyongyang shut its borders in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Chinese Communist Party politburo member Li Hongzhong will take part in celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, KCNA reported.

North Korea closed its border in early 2020 to all trade and diplomatic exchanges, even with its main economic and political ally China. Monday's state media report did not say whether the visit marked any change in policy.

Li, who is also vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress, will visit "to take part in the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the victory in the great Fatherland Liberation War," KCNA said.

North Korea refers to July 27 1953, the date when the armistice ending fighting in the Korean War was signed, as victory day. Large-scale events are expected to mark the 70th anniversary this year.

North and South Korea technically remain at war. The North detained a U.S. soldier who dashed over the inter-Korean border last week, landing Washington in a new diplomatic headache over the reclusive, nuclear-armed state.

(Reporting by Jack Kim)