Reclusive leader says it is his obligation as a ‘close friend of Chinese President Xi Jinping’ to ensure ‘highest level of treatment’ for Song Tao and visiting arts troupe
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met visiting senior Chinese diplomat Song Tao, Korean Central News Agency reported on Sunday, in a further sign of improving ties between Beijing and Pyongyang following Kim’s landmark visit to the Chinese capital last month.
The head of the Communist Party’s International Department, who is leading a visit by a Chinese troupe for the April Spring Friendship Art Festival in Pyongyang, was “warmly” welcomed by the reclusive leader on Saturday, KCNA said.
Kim also hosted a banquet for the Chinese delegation, during which officials from the two sides toasted their shared will “to more beautifully decorate the flower garden of the DPRK-China friendship”.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is the official name for North Korea.
Photographs carried by the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed Chinese and North Korean officials seated at round tables in a massive banquet hall, with a mural of Kim and Xi shaking hands decorating one wall.
Another photograph showed a North Korean orchestra performing in front of a screen onto which was projected a large image of Xi.
Song and Kim discussed the “international situation” and exchanged views on the two countries’ “common interests”, the KCNA report said.
Kim was quoted as saying it was his obligation as a “close friend of Chinese President Xi Jinping” to ensure the visiting art troupe received “the highest level” of treatment “on a top priority basis”.
