President Xi Jinping Meets with DPRK’s Premier of the Cabinet Pak Thae Song

On the afternoon of July 10, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and President Xi Jinping met with Pak Thae Song, Member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Vice President of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Premier of the Cabinet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Premier Pak Thae Song is on an official visit to China.

President Xi Jinping noted that last month, I paid a state visit to the DPRK, during which General Secretary Kim Jong Un and I provided the strategic guidance for consolidating and growing the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK and continuously enriching it in keeping with the times. The China-DPRK relations have always been defined by lasting friendship, sharing weal and woe and mutual help. The China-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance laid important political and legal foundations for cementing the friendship forged by our peoples in struggle and blood. General Secretary Kim Jong Un and I agreed that we should take the joint and grand commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the Treaty as an opportunity to always bear in mind the original aspiration and mission of the older generations of leaders of the two parties and countries, and encourage the two peoples to carry forward our traditional friendship, so that our bilateral relations will continue to thrive in the new historical period.

President Xi Jinping stressed that the current international landscape is fraught with changes and turbulence. Both China and the DPRK should maintain firm strategic resolve, enhance strategic confidence, accelerate the implementation of the consensus reached between me and General Secretary Kim Jong Un, and ensure that the relations between our two parties and countries keep pace with the times and continue to develop in a direction that serves our respective socialist cause and modernization. We should steadily advance practical cooperation, build greater public support, and make good use of our shared revolutionary history and resources, so that young people of both countries can remember the historic contributions of the Chinese People’s Volunteers and the great China-DPRK friendship can be passed down through generations. We should strengthen strategic coordination, resolutely defend our respective sovereignty, security and development interests, and create a favorable external environment for both countries to achieve further progress along the socialist path suited to our respective national conditions.

Premier Pak Thae Song first conveyed warm greetings from General Secretary Kim Jong Un to General Secretary Xi Jinping, noting that on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the DPRK-China Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, General Secretary Kim Jong Un wishes General Secretary Xi Jinping new and continuous achievements in the lofty cause of leading the CPC and the Chinese people. 

Premier Pak Thae Song extended warm congratulations on the 105th anniversary of the founding of the CPC and on General Secretary Xi Jinping leading the Chinese people in achieving remarkable development accomplishments. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s first overseas visit this year was to the DPRK, and the top leaders of the two parties and countries had a historic meeting, setting a new milestone in bilateral relations and further consolidating public support for DPRK-China friendship. The Treaty provides strong legal guarantee for advancing bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective. Guided by the spirit of the Treaty, the two countries have supported each other, jointly advanced the cause of socialism, and worked hand in hand to safeguard regional and world peace. The solemn commemorative activities held by the two countries for the Treaty’s 65th anniversary once again demonstrated that DPRK-China friendship has withstood the test of changing international circumstances and is of great strategic significance. General Secretary Kim Jong Un gave the instruction of developing DPRK-China relations into the strongest strategic relationship. The DPRK side will resolutely implement the important consensus between the top leaders of the two parties and countries, firmly support China in safeguarding its core interests on issues such as the Taiwan question, and make every effort to bring DPRK-China solidarity, friendship, and the socialist cause of the two countries to a new and higher level.

Wang Yi was present at the meeting.