▲ North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui (R) welcomes Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Pyongyang on April 9, 2026, as the Chinese official visits North Korea for a two-day trip, in this photo from the Korean Central News Agency the next day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

N Korea-China-diplomacy

N. Korea's top diplomat tells China that Pyongyang vows to deepen bilateral ties

SEOUL, April 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui has told her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that Pyongyang would forge relations with Beijing for the interests of the people, with both ministers praising their leaders' pledge to deepen ties, according to the North's state media Friday.

Choe made the remarks during talks with Wang in Pyongyang, the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, with a Chinese foreign minister visiting North Korea for the first time in more than six years.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited Beijing last year and held summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Choe told Wang that bilateral ties have been advanced to a "higher new level" under an agreement reached during the summit talks between Kim and Xi last year.

North Korea would further deepen the bilateral friendship under the "common ideology of socialism in accordance with the aspirations and interests of the people of the two nations," Choe told Wang, according to the KCNA.

Wang also recalled that Xi and Kim held a "historic" meeting in Beijing in September last year, during which, he said, they presented "landmark" guidelines for taking the bilateral friendship to a new level.

"It is the unwavering intention of the Chinese party and the government to greatly safeguard, solidify and develop China-North Korea friendship, regardless of how the international situation changes," the KCNA quoted Wang as saying.

The ministers also agreed to increase various exchanges and cooperation to mark this year's 65th anniversary of their Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance and to strengthen "strategic communication" and cooperation between their countries' foreign policy bodies.

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