Chinese President Xi Jinping has appointed a vice minister of the Chinese Communist Party as Beijing's new ambassador to North Korea, according to China's foreign ministry on Thursday. 

Li Jinjun, 59, vice minister of the International Department of the Central Committee of China's Communist Party, succeeds Liu Hongcai, who returned home after serving his five-year stint in Pyongyang, the Chinese ministry said in a brief statement posted on its website.

Li steps into the new job as political relations between North Korea and China remain strained because of Pyongyang's defiant pursuit of nuclear weapons.

A veteran diplomat of the Chinese Communist Party, Li has also served as China's ambassador to Myanmar and the Philippines. (Yonhap)