Kim Jong Un tells Xi Jinping in letter he hopes to promote cooperation

By Reuters September 23, 2023 | 07:23 pm PT

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 on Sunday.

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. Photo handout via Reuters

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.

"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.

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