Kim Jong Un vows to promote cooperation in letter to Xi Jinping – KCNA

FILE PHOTO: Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walk during Xi’s visit in Pyongyang, North Korea in this picture released by by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on June 21, 2019. KCNA via REUTERS/File Photo

SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to promote cooperative relations with China in a letter to President Xi Jinping, the North’s state media KCNA reported Sunday.

The letter was in response to congratulations Xi sent for the North’s founding anniversary this month where the Chinese president had expressed his willingness to strengthen strategic communication and working-level cooperation.

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“I believe … the DPRK-China friendly and cooperative relations would steadily develop in conformity with the requirements of the new era and the desire of the two peoples in the future,” Kim said in the letter sent on Thursday, September 21.

DPRK is the initials of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

READ: Xi calls for ‘higher stage’ of China-North Korea ties – state media