North Korean leader Kim Jong-un received a Chinese party and government delegation led by Wang Huning, chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, who visited North Korea on the 16th to mark the 65th anniversary of the North Korea-China friendship treaty, the Korean Central News Agency reported on the 17th. Yonhap News
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met with Wang Huning, chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, who is visiting North Korea, and expressed his determination to firmly advance the development of bilateral relations.
The Korean Central News Agency reported on the 17th that Kim received the delegation of the Chinese party and government led by Wang in Pyongyang on the 16th. Kim stressed that “developing the traditional relationship of friendship and cooperation centered on socialism more vigorously across various fields, in line with the demands of the changing times and the aspirations and wishes of the peoples of the two countries, is the firm policy of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea’s official name).”
“Dispatching a high-level party and government delegation to our country (North Korea) is a manifestation of the firm will to attach importance to North Korea-China relations and to unwaveringly implement the matters agreed upon at the Pyongyang summit,” he said, adding, “We will continue to unfailingly support and endorse the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics in a new era, led by General Secretary Comrade Xi Jinping.”
Kim assessed the North Korea-China friendship treaty, which marks its 65th anniversary of its signing this year, as “an inter-state treaty that defines the strategic character of relations between the two countries and presents their strategic direction.” He then expressed his appreciation for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “congratulations and comradely greetings” and asked Wang to convey his “greetings” to Xi as well.
In response, Wang said he “expressed the willingness to comprehensively implement the important common understandings and agreements reached through the historic Pyongyang meeting, to enhance political mutual trust and bilateral solidarity, and to expand and develop mutual cooperation and coordination.”
The meeting between the two sides was reported on the front page of Rodong Sinmun, which North Korean residents read. On this day, the second day of the visit, the delegation paid tribute at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the bodies of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il are enshrined, and at the Cemetery of Fallen Fighters of the Chinese People’s Volunteers, a cemetery for Chinese soldiers who fought in the Korean War, in Pyongyang’s Sunan District.