China and North Korea have announced they will further strengthen their long-standing traditional relationship amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
This was announced at the opening ceremony of the “DPRK-China Friendship Year” in Pyongyang on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
Choe Ryong-hae, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name, and Zhao Leji, chairman of China’s National People’s Congress, attended the ceremony in Pyongyang.
In his address to the audience, Choe emphasized his unwavering will to further develop traditional relations of friendship and cooperation with socialism as the core.
He said that bilateral relations are valuable and precious, not only because the two countries are geographically close, but also because they were forged in the fight for a “common cause”.
Zhao, for his part, said that the consistent strategic policy of the Chinese party and government is to successfully defend, consolidate and develop the traditional friendly relations between China and North Korea.
Zhao, who arrived in Pyongyang on Thursday for a three-day visit, is the first high-ranking Chinese official to visit North Korea since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He is also expected to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, AA writes.
