North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made his diplomatic debut overseas as the country's supreme leader this week, with official media airing footage on Wednesday of him being welcomed in Beijing by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Wearing a gray Mao-style suit, a smiling Kim shook hands with Xi in front of their national flags at the Great Hall of the People, the footage showed. Kim and Xi were accompanied by their wives, Ri Sol Ju and Peng Liyuan.

(KCNA/Kyodo)

During their summit meeting on Monday, Xi, clad in a black Western-style suit and a red tie, spoke, occasionally using hand gestures, while Kim took notes with a serious face.

At a banquet after the meeting, Kim was quoted by the Korean Central News Agency as saying in a speech it is "quite natural" that the capital of China was chosen for his maiden foreign trip.

TV footage also showed Kim visiting an exhibition showing achievements by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and writing in the visitors' book there.

(KCNA/Kyodo)

"We can grasp the mightiness of China, a great neighboring country. More excellent scientific successes will be achieved under the wise leadership of the Communist Party of China. Kim Jong Un on March 27, 2018," Kim wrote, according to KCNA.

Immediately after leaving China on Wednesday, Kim sent a message of thanks to Xi, North Korea's state-run news agency said.

"I am convinced that the DPRK-China friendship, a valuable heritage bequeathed down by the revolutionary forerunners and common treasure, would as ever steadily strengthen in the interests of the two peoples," Kim was quoted as saying.

(Photo courtesy of Korea Media)

DPRK is the acronym for North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

It was Kim's first trip to another country since becoming North Korea's supreme leader after the death of his father Kim Jong Il in 2011.