A high-level North Korean diplomat based in Beijing met a Chinese party official on Tuesday, two days before South Korean and Chinese officials are set to hold talks in Tianjin that reportedly could include discussion of an end-of-war declaration.

Beijing’s Liu Jinsong, director-general of the foreign ministry’s Department of Asian Affairs, held talks with Jong Hyon U, a minister at the North Korean Embassy in China, on bilateral relations and matters of “mutual” concern, according to China’s foreign ministry.