China stresses friendly ties with N. Korea President Xi Jinping
President Xi Jinping

President Xi Jinping

BEIJING. — China’s President Xi Jinping has stressed the significance of “friendly” ties with North Korea during a recent visit by a high-ranking Pyongyang official, a report says. According to North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), President Xi told top North Korean official Ri Su-Yong — a former foreign minister — in Beijing that “China places great value on the friendly cooperative relationship” with its neighbour.

Ri sought the enhancement of bilateral economic cooperation and updated the Chinese president on the North’s ruling party congress last month, the report noted. On May 10, thousands of North Koreans held a massive rally and parade in the capital Pyongyang to mark the end of the ruling party’s first congress in over three decades.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presided over the large demonstration, which was held in Pyongyang’s main ceremonial square. According KCNA, Ri also defended his country’s rights to maintain a nuclear deterrent against the US and its allies.

However, the Chinese president expressed hope that “all sides could remain calm, increase communication and dialogue and protect regional peace and stability.”

North Korea declared itself a nuclear power in 2005 and carried out four nuclear weapons tests — in 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2016.

It also launched a long-range rocket February this year, which Pyongyang said was aimed at placing an earth observation satellite into orbit. However, the US and South Korea denounced the move as a cover for an intercontinental ballistic missile test. — Press TV.

 

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