North Korea and China, which restored relations on the occasion of the North Korea-China summit, reaffirmed their friendly stance through a banquet celebrating China's National Day.
The Korean Central News Agency reported on the 26th that Wang Yajun, China's ambassador to North Korea, hosted a banquet at the embassy in Pyongyang on the 25th ahead of the 76th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
In his banquet speech that day, Ambassador Wang said, "The traditional China–DPRK (North Korea–China) friendship is constantly engraving a new chapter," and added, "The Chinese side is willing to work with the DPRK side to thoroughly implement the important common understanding achieved by the top leaders of the two parties and the two countries, and to achieve greater development in China–DPRK relations."
Kang Yun-seok, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea, who attended the banquet that day, said, "The DPRK–China friendship, forged and strengthened in the struggle to realize the common cause, is being sublimated to meet the demands of the new era," adding, "We will continue to work jointly with our Chinese comrades to strengthen and develop the DPRK–China friendly and cooperative relationship."
The agency reported that participants including Mun Sung-hyok, deputy department director of the Workers' Party Central Committee, Pak Myong-ho, vice foreign minister, and Ryu Eun-hae, vice minister of external economic affairs, "raised their glasses to the prosperity of the People's Republic of China and the ceaseless strengthening and development of the DPRK–China friendly and cooperative relationship."
The Chinese Embassy in North Korea has held a reception in Pyongyang every Oct. 1 to mark China's National Day (the anniversary of the proclamation of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949). Typically, the vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly, equivalent to a vice speaker of Korea's National Assembly, has attended as the chief guest from the North.
Some observers say the banquet, held ahead of North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui's visit to China, likely featured a range of working-level discussions. At the invitation of Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China (who concurrently serves as foreign minister), Choe will visit China from the 27th to the 30th.