China’s top legislator meets Kim Jong Un on goodwill visit

Zhao, finishing a goodwill tour that began on Thursday

By Reuters
April 14, 2024
Zhao Leji (R), President of The National Peoples Congress of the Peoples Republic of China, shakes hands with Kim Jong Un, Supreme Leader of North Korea, in Pyongyang, DPRK, on April 13, 2024. — Xinhua
Zhao Leji (R), President of The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, shakes hands with Kim Jong Un, Supreme Leader of North Korea, in Pyongyang, DPRK, on April 13, 2024. — Xinhua

BEIJING: China’s top legislator Zhao Leji met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang on Saturday, expressing Beijing’s willingness to work with its counterparts to deepen trust and boost cooperation, Chinese state media said.

Zhao, finishing a goodwill tour that began on Thursday, is the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit the North since 2018, when Li Zhanshu attended the 70th anniversary of the North’s founding.

“No matter how the international situation changes, the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK, created and nurtured by the older generation of leaders from both parties and countries, remains deep-rooted and strong over time,” Zhao said in a speech, according to China’s Xinhua news agency. DPRK refers to the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

In the speech at the opening ceremony for China-DPRK Friendship Year, Zhao noted that the two countries’ top leaders have met five times in recent years.