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| In this Thursday, June 20, 2019, photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wave from an open top limousine as they travel along a street in Pyongyang, North Korea. (File photo by= Ju Peng/Xinhua via AP) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] Pyongyang's state media reported Friday that Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged efforts to "defend, consolidate and develop" relations with North Korea, following the North's Kim Jong-un said he will push to elevate the two countries' ties to a "new strategic point."
Xi made the statement in a reply to Kim's earlier letter to mark the 100th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of China, touting the "message of fervent congratulations at an early hour" as a sign of "friendship" between the two countries, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "Under the new situation, the Chinese side, together with the DPRK side, will ... make positive contributions to ... achieving regional peace, stability, development, and prosperity by successfully implementing the important common understanding reached by the two sides to successfully defend, consolidate and develop the China-DPRK relations," Xi said in the message on July 23.
Xi also expressed thanks to Kim for sending a message of sympathy over the deadly flooding that hit China's central province of Henan and other regions, KCNA said. North Korea and China have emphasized their close relations amid stalemated nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington, and an escalating Sino-U.S. rivalry.
