Xi and Peng watched Sunday’s 90-minute performance, which featured a mix of traditional and modern songs from both countries and included singers accompanied by an orchestra and choir.

It began with a North Korean song titled Forever the DPRK-China Friendship and ended with a Chinese folk song, Never Forget Tonight.

“This visit, as an important cultural exchange activity for implementing the consensus reached by the two sides … will be a great success to cement friendship between the two peoples,” Xi said to Ri, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Xi said before attending Sunday’s performance that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had “reached an important consensus” in party-to-party and state-to-state relations between China and the North, and that Beijing was ready to implement the consensus.

The two leaders had met in Beijing earlier this month – Kim’s fourth visit to China in less than a year – when they agreed to make joint efforts in the ongoing development of relations between their countries and to “jointly advance the political settlement of the Korean peninsula issue”, Xinhua reported at the time.

“The DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] side will earnestly implement the important consensus reached by Kim and Xi, strengthen friendly cooperation and contribute to writing a new chapter in DPRK-China friendship”, Ri said on Sunday, adding that his visit and the performance conveyed Kim’s “deep feelings” to Xi.

The show was also watched by Chinese officials including Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Huning, Politburo member Yang Jiechi and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

With 280 performers, the troupe is believed to be the biggest ever sent overseas by North Korea. After Sunday’s performance, Xi and Peng joined them on stage, shaking hands and posing for photographs.

A group of North Korean performers were invited to stage a similar concert in Beijing in 2015 but returned home after Beijing complained about the show’s inclusion of propaganda images featuring Pyongyang’s missiles.

Footage released by Chinese media suggested missiles did not feature this time, in a show heavy on scenery of Pyongyang, notably its Juche Tower – named after North Korea’s core ideology, which emphasises self-reliance, sovereignty and independence in the face of external powers.

A portrait of Kim at a snowy Baekdu Mountain, on the North’s border with China, was shown as a choir was introduced.

The North Koreans wore traditional dress and, in some cases, military uniform for the shows, held to mark the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and North Korea.

Sean King, a former US diplomat who is senior vice-president of political strategy firm Park Strategies, said Xi’s attendance added to his efforts to “let Kim, and the world, know he has Kim’s back when Kim meets [US President] Donald Trump again”.

“Beijing doesn’t control Pyongyang as some think, but it is certainly Pyongyang’s chief enabler and backstop,” King said. “With Xi in his corner, Kim will feel emboldened and drive a much harder bargain with Trump.”

King said the issues at stake for Beijing at that summit could include the US’ suspension of its joint military exercises with South Korea and its military presence in the region.

“[In return] Xi will be hoping for an even greater windfall [at the second Trump-Kim summit], such as an extension of said suspension and/or even partial withdrawals of US troops from South Korea and/or regional US strategic assets.”

James Floyd Downes, a lecturer in comparative politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said it was not a coincidence for Xi to attend the event.

“Attending is a direct example of ‘soft’ power and demonstrates to Washington the increasingly close ties that the Beijing government is seeking with North Korea and Kim,” he said.

“Such power plays will make it increasingly difficult for the Trump administration to make meaningful progress in negotiations with Pyongyang.”