Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) shakes hands with the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong-un before their meeting in Pyongyang, DPRK, on June 20, 2019. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

BEIJING – Chinese President and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Xi Jinping on Saturday sent a message of congratulations to Kim Jong-un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), on the 75th anniversary of the country's founding.

Under the strong WPK leadership and with the unremitting efforts of the DPRK people, new achievements have been made in the socialist construction of the DPRK over the past 75 years, said Xi.

In recent years, Comrade General Secretary Kim has led the WPK and the people of the DPRK in fully implementing the spirit of the 8th WPK Congress and the plenary sessions of the 8th Central Committee, focusing on economic development and improvement of people's livelihood, and has achieved important results, he said.

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The Chinese leader expressed his confidence that under the leadership of Comrade General Secretary Kim and the WPK, the brotherly DPRK people will surely continuously advance the socialist cause of the country for new development and lift it to a new level.

Xi said China is willing to work with the DPRK to strengthen strategic communication and deepen practical cooperation, push China-DPRK relations to advance with the times and achieve greater development

China and the DPRK are friendly neighbors linked by the same mountain and river, he stressed, adding that the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK, established and cultivated by the elder generations of leaders of both parties and both countries, has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the two peoples and has grown stronger with time.

Xi said he and Kim have met five times in recent years, maintained close communication through various forms, and jointly led the traditional friendly and cooperative relations between China and the DPRK into a new era.

Noting that momentous changes unseen in a century are accelerating across the world, he said it has always been the unswerving position of the CPC and the Chinese government to maintain, consolidate and develop the traditional friendly and cooperative relations between China and the DPRK, no matter how the international and regional situation changes.

Under the new circumstances, China is willing to work with the DPRK to strengthen strategic communication and deepen practical cooperation, push China-DPRK relations to advance with the times and achieve greater development, so as to better benefit the two peoples and make greater contributions to regional peace, stability, development and prosperity, added the Chinese president.  

Separately, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is also the director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, sent a congratulatory message to his DPRK counterpart, Choe Son Hui, on Saturday over the nation's 75th founding anniversary.

During the past 75 years, the DPRK people have conquered various kinds of difficulties and challenges under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea, and continued to achieve gratifying accomplishments in their cause of building socialism, said Wang.

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Under the care and promotion of the leaders of the two parties and two countries, as well as the joint endeavor between the two sides, the traditional China-DPRK friendship has been advancing with the times and continuing to solidify and develop, he said.

Wang expressed his readiness to keep close communication with Choe to well implement the important consensus reached by the top leaders of the two parties and two countries, enhance exchanges and cooperation between the two foreign affairs departments, so as to push China-DPRK relationship to keep moving forward.