SEOUL, July 17 — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has met a top Chinese official and pledged to deepen ties with Beijing, KCNA reported today, as the two countries marked the 65th anniversary of a key friendship treaty.
The meeting Thursday follows Chinese President Xi Jinping’s rare visit to North Korea last month, when the two leaders vowed to strengthen bilateral relations as tensions rise on the Korean Peninsula and Pyongyang expands its military cooperation with Russia.
Welcoming China’s Wang Huning, a Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee member and other delegation members, Kim declared that it was the neighbouring nations’ “steadfast policy... to more vigorously develop the traditional friendly and cooperative relations,” the state-run KCNA said.
For his part, Wang vowed that “the firm stand of the Chinese party and government placing great importance on (bilateral) friendship will remain unchanged and the firm support for the cause of Korean socialism led by Comrade General Secretary Kim Jong Un will never be changed,” according to KCNA.
The trip came as the two countries marked the 65th anniversary of the 1961 mutual defense treaty.
North Korea has expanded security ties with Russia, where Pyongyang has sent soldiers and munitions to assist Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Still, China remains North Korea’s largest economic partner, accounting for nearly 98 percent of the country’s foreign trade in 2024, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance. — AFP
