North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meets Wang Huning, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, who visited Pyongyang to mark the 65th anniversary of the Sino-North Korean friendship treaty, KCNA reported Friday. [Yonhap]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meets Wang Huning, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, who visited Pyongyang to mark the 65th anniversary of the Sino-North Korean friendship treaty, KCNA reported Friday. [Yonhap]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met visiting Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning and said the Sino-North Korean friendship treaty "plays a significant role in defending the fundamental interests of the two countries and ensuring peace and security in the region and the world," describing it as a state-level treaty that sets the strategic direction of bilateral relations.

According to KCNA on Friday, Kim met Thursday with a Chinese party and government delegation led by Wang. Kim said it is "the firm and unwavering policy of the Korean Workers' Party and the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to develop the traditional friendly and cooperative relations centered on socialism more vigorously across various fields, in keeping with the demands of the changing era and the aspirations of the peoples of the two countries, in the spirit of the treaty."

Kim expressed gratitude for the "congratulatory message and comradely greetings" from Chinese President Xi Jinping conveyed by Wang, and asked Wang to pass along his own greetings to Xi. Kim said North Korea "will continue to firmly support and encourage the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era led by General Secretary Xi Jinping."

Wang, thanking North Korea for its hospitality, expressed China's readiness "to fully implement the important consensus and agreements reached through the historic Pyongyang summit, promote political mutual trust and bilateral solidarity, and expand and develop mutual cooperation and collaboration," KCNA said.

News of the Chinese delegation's meeting with Kim appeared on the front page of the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper read by North Korean citizens. China's state-run Xinhua News Agency had reported Thursday that the delegation attended a banquet marking the 65th anniversary of the friendship treaty, but made no mention of a meeting with Kim.

Beyond the meeting with Kim, the delegation carried out a range of other activities. On Thursday, the second day of the visit, the group paid their respects at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the bodies of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il lie in state.

The flower basket presented by the delegation bore a ribbon reading, "Comrades Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il will live forever," KCNA said. Wang signed the guestbook after the visit, writing, "Sino-Korean friendship will be passed down from generation to generation."

The delegation also visited the Chinese People's Volunteers Martyrs' Cemetery in Sunan District, Pyongyang — the burial site of Chinese soldiers who fought in the Korean War — and toured the Korean Workers' Party Central Cadre School, the country's top institution for training party officials.

At a banquet held Thursday at the Yanggakdo International Hotel to mark the treaty's 65th anniversary, Cabinet Premier Pak Thae-song said in a speech that the Chinese delegation's visit was "a meaningful occasion that demonstrates the strategic character of the treaty and the vitality of Sino-Korean friendship." He added that North Korea would "march forward hand in hand with Chinese comrades in the journey to actively promote the new flowering and development of the two countries' common prosperity and friendship, oppose hegemonism, and advance the cause of socialism to victory."

Wang said China's "firm position of attaching great importance to Sino-Korean friendship will not change, and its firm support for the Korean socialist cause led by General Secretary Kim Jong-un will not change," adding that "the Chinese side will, together with the Korean side, hold high the banner of socialism and ensure that the baton of Sino-Korean friendship is passed down from generation to generation," KCNA said.


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