Chinese President Xi Jinping, on the second day of his state visit to North Korea, paid his respects at the Sino–North Korea Friendship Tower and visited the Central Cadres School of the Workers' Party of Korea, highlighting the two countries' blood alliance and will for friendship.
According to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency on the 9th, Xi, accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan, visited the Friendship Tower at the foot of Moranbong in Pyongyang that morning. The tower is a memorial honoring the Chinese People's Volunteers (the Chinese People's Volunteer Army) who died in North Korea during the 6/25 War.
Kim Jong-un, North Korea's State Affairs Commission Chairperson, and his wife Ri Sol-ju accompanied the visit. Xi bowed his head in silence before a wreath inscribed "Eternal immortality to the martyrs of the Chinese People's Volunteers," then, together with Kim, observed an honor guard march-past. He then entered the memorial hall to view photographic materials and oil paintings, and, while reviewing the roll of the fallen, introduced to Kim the stories of the soldiers who died.
According to Xinhua, the two leaders agreed that the shared history of fighting together in the 1950s is the two countries' eternal memory, and said they would jointly manage memorial facilities for the volunteers, strengthen revolutionary tradition education and youth education, and carry forward and develop North Korea–China friendship.
The two leaders also visited the Central Cadres School of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. It is reportedly the first time that China's top leader has visited the party's cadres school.
Xi and Kim observed a lecture in which a class on North Korea–China relations was underway, toured the interior of the school, and then together planted a fir tree on campus. The monument was inscribed in Chinese and Korean with the phrase "Zhong Chao youyi wangu changqing" (中朝友谊 万古长青), meaning "North Korea–China friendship is evergreen." Xinhua said, "The evergreen fir symbolizes the unceasing continuity of North Korea–China friendship."