Kim Jong Un meets China's top political adviser Wang Huning
SEOUL, July 17 (UPI) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with a Chinese party and government delegation led by top political adviser Wang Huning in Pyongyang and pledged to strengthen ties between the longtime allies, state media reported Friday.
Wang, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, is leading a three-day visit marking the 65th anniversary of the China-North Korea Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance.
During Thursday's meeting, Kim welcomed Xi Jinping's decision to send the high-ranking delegation, saying it reflected Beijing's commitment to implementing agreements reached during the Chinese president's summit with Kim in Pyongyang last month, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
Kim said the treaty has "played an important role in defending the basic interests of the two countries and ensuring the regional and global peace and security."
The treaty, signed by then-Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, includes a mutual defense clause requiring each side to come to the other's aid in the event of an armed attack.
Kim added that the two countries would continue to "vigorously develop the traditional friendly and cooperative relations ... on the basis of the spirit of the treaty and in line with the requirement of the changing times and the aspiration and desire of the two peoples."
The visit continues a string of recent high-level exchanges between the longtime allies after ties had appeared to cool amid Pyongyang's deepening military cooperation with Russia.
Xi traveled to Pyongyang in June for his first summit with Kim in seven years, while North Korean Premier Pak Thae Song visited Beijing for anniversary events last week. South Korea's Unification Ministry said it was the first North Korean government delegation sent to Beijing to commemorate the treaty anniversary in seven years.
During their meeting, Wang said China was ready to "comprehensively implement all the important common understanding and agreements the top leaders of the two parties and the two countries reached in the historic Pyongyang meeting," KCNA reported.
The delegation also visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where Kim Il Sung and former leader Kim Jong Il lie in state, the Central Cadres Training School of the Workers' Party of Korea and a memorial site honoring Chinese soldiers killed in the Korean War, KCNA said.
At a reception marking the treaty anniversary Thursday, Wang said the people of the two countries had "shared life and death and formed great militant friendship at the cost of blood in the struggle for achieving national independence and the liberation of the countries."
"The firm stand of the Chinese party and government placing great importance on China-DPRK friendship will remain unchanged," he said, using the official acronym for North Korea.
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