Reuters

SEOUL/BEIJING: Chinese Premier Li Qiang will lead a Chinese delegation to North Korea to participate in celebrations of the 80th anniversary of its ruling party on Friday, North Korean state media KCNA reported.&nbsp;China&#39;s foreign ministry confirmed Li&#39;s visit from October 9 to 11 in a separate announcement on Tuesday and said China is willing to take the opportunity to strengthen communication and deepen partnerships with North Korea.&nbsp;A delegation from Russia&#39;s United Russia party, led by chairman Dmitry Medvedev, is also scheduled to attend the event commemorating the founding of the Workers&#39; Party of Korea on Friday, KCNA reported earlier.&nbsp;Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un joined Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend a massive military parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary since Japan&#39;s defeat at the end of World War Two, a move seen to be aimed at bolstering Kim&#39;s diplomatic standing.&nbsp;North Korea&#39;s Kim said on Tuesday in a letter congratulating Putin on his birthday that the alliance between the countries will not only contribute to developing bilateral relations but also to establishing a &quot;just and multi-polarized world order&quot;.&nbsp;South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said on Tuesday he hoped relations between North Korea and China would develop in a way that contributes to denuclearization and peace on the Korean peninsula, in a phone call with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, according to Seoul&#39;s foreign ministry.&nbsp;Vietnam&#39;s Communist Party Chief To Lam will also attend North Korea&#39;s party anniversary event this week, in the first visit of a Vietnamese leader in nearly 20 years. Lam&#39;s trip comes after he visited South Korea, a major trading partner, in August as the first foreign guest hosted by President Lee Jae Myung.&nbsp;&quot;The Communist Party, state and people of Vietnam always attach importance to the development of the Vietnam-DPRK relations and have the will to develop in the future,&quot; the Communist Party of Vietnam said in a congratulatory letter to the Workers&#39; Party of Korea, according to a separate report by KCNA on Tuesday.&nbsp;DPRK stands for the Democratic People&#39;s Republic of Korea, North Korea&#39;s official name.&nbsp;

Asia

Foreign ministry says China is willing to take the opportunity to strengthen communication and deepen partnerships with North Korea.

China Premier Li Qiang to visit North Korea for ruling party anniversary

BEIJING: The foreign ministers of North Korea and China agreed to deepen bilateral ties and resist hegemonism, a likely reference to their pushbacks against the United States. Their meeting in Beijing on Sunday came about three weeks after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first summit in more than six years and pledged mutual support and enhanced cooperation. Kim and Xi earlier attended a massive Beijing military parade marking the end of the World War II, with other world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin. The joint appearance of Kim, Xi and Putin, the first of its kind, displayed a potential three-way unity against the United States, though it&#39;s unclear how far China would go in such an anti-US partnership. In a meeting with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui cited Kim as saying that further bolstering ties with China is North Korea&rsquo;s unwavering position. Choe expressed an intent to deepen and develop friendly ties with China in line with the spirits of Kim-Xi summit, the North&rsquo;s Korean Central News Agency reported Monday. Wang said China maintains a firm position that it intends to solidify bilateral ties, saying it&rsquo;s necessary to boost strategic communications and exchanges, KCNA said. China&#39;s Xinhua News Agency cited Wang as saying China oppose &ldquo;all forms of hegemonism&rdquo; and stands ready to strengthen cooperation with North Korea in international and regional affairs. It quoted Choe as saying that North Korea &ldquo;is willing to closely cooperate with China in multilateral affairs, jointly resist unilateralism and power politics and promote a fairer and more just world order.&rdquo; The comments likely referred to their countries&#39; separate confrontations with the United States &mdash; China over strategic competitions with the US and North Korea over its nuclear weapons program. KCNA said Choe and Wang exchanged views on regional and international affairs reached a complete consensus on the issues, but didn&#39;t elaborate. Kim&#39;s attendance at the Beijing military parade was his first attendance at a major multilateral event during his 14-year rule. In recent years, North Korea has been focusing on expanding cooperation with Russia by supplying combat troops and ammunitions to support its war against Ukraine. But experts say Kim now feels the need to improve ties with China, North Korea&rsquo;s biggest trading partner and aid benefactor, as he has to brace for the war&rsquo;s end. They say China, for its part, would want to maintain influence over North Korea, as bilateral ties reportedly cooled in the past few years. Attention has turned to the makeup of the delegation China might send to North Korea when it commemorates the 80th founding anniversary of its ruling Workers&rsquo; Party next month. North Korea is expected to mark the anniversary with its own military parade to display new weapons targeting the US and its allies.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, shakes hands with visiting North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui prior to a meeting, in Beijing. (Xinhua via AP)

North Korea and China agreed to deepen bilateral ties and resist US hegemonism following a recent summit between their leaders. Both countries pledged closer cooperation on regional and international issues. 

Articles tagged with "China North Korea relations"

China Premier Li Qiang to visit North Korea for ruling party anniversary

North Korea and China agree to strengthen ties, counter the US