Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) -- Respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un made a speech at the grand banquet hosted by Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People.

The full text of his speech is as follows:

Esteemed Comrade General Secretary Xi Jinping,

Esteemed Mme Peng Liyuan,

Dear Chinese comrades,

In the midst of the new situation on the Korean peninsula, which is changing as never before, we are now on a lightning visit to the People's Republic of China with a desire to remain true to the long-standing, historic traditions of great friendship and revolutionary obligation between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the PRC and to inherit and develop the bilateral relations in a wonderful way down through the generations.

First of all, I would like to extend heartfelt thanks to esteemed Comrade General Secretary Xi Jinping, as well as Mme Peng Liyuan, who has managed to find time despite the demanding duties of leading the Party and state and is according a warm welcome to us like his own brothers and sisters.

I have been deeply impressed by the sincerity and solicitude shown by Comrade Xi Jinping and other leading Party and state cadres of China in accepting the proposal for our lightning visit with pleasure and in ensuring a success of our short visit, and I feel very grateful for this.

Availing myself of this meaningful opportunity, I extend warm congratulations on the successful conclusion of the two major meetings following the grand 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China and the election of Comrade Xi Jinping as president of the PRC and chairman of the Central Military Commission of the PRC.

I also tender warm greetings of members of the Workers' Party of Korea and other Korean people to members of the CPC and other Chinese people.

Dear Chinese comrades,

This is my first visit to China.

That the first place of my foreign visit is the capital city of the PRC is too natural for me, and it is an expression of my ennobling obligation to prize the DPRK-PRC friendship like my life itself and carry it forward.

I deem it a high honour to visit my country's great neighbour, and this visit has given me another opportunity to comprehend the preciousness of the DPRK-PRC friendship, a priceless legacy left by the preceding leaders of the two countries and a treasure common to the two peoples.

For long years the Korean and Chinese peoples supported and cooperated closely with each other, shedding blood and dedicating their lives to the joint struggle. Real life has taught them that their destinies are inseparable. They are now clearly aware that for the two brotherly neighbours with rivers in between, peaceful environment and stability in the region are critical, and it is costly to secure and defend them.

General Secretary Xi Jinping and I have just exchanged in-depth opinions on such important issues as the promotion of bilateral friendship and coordination of the pressing problems concerning the situation on the Korean peninsula, reaffirming our common commitment to consolidate the socialist systems of the two countries and ensure wellbeing and a bright future for the two peoples.

It is the steadfast stand of the WPK and the government of the DPRK to develop, true to the ennobling intentions of the preceding leaders, the friendly relationship between the two countries at a new, higher level, the relationship which was established through the sacred joint struggle for the cause of socialism and retained its original features even in the whirlwind of history.

Comrades,

Thanks to the leadership of the CPC with General Secretary Xi Jinping as the core, the Chinese people are achieving brilliant successes in accomplishing their cause of building a modernized socialist power in the new era, and their country is enjoying ever-improving international prestige. The WPK and the Korean people feel very pleased with this as if it is their own.

We sincerely wish that the Chinese people will achieve great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation under the wise leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping by fully implementing the tasks put forward by the 19th Congress of the CPC.

Last, with the belief that my meaningful first meeting with General Secretary Xi Jinping in this spring, full of joy and hope, will constitute a significant occasion in bringing rich fruition in the development of friendly relations between the two countries, I propose a toast,

To the development of the great CPC and the prosperity of the PRC,

To the good health and happiness of respected General Secretary Xi Jinping and Mme Peng Liyuan, and

To the good health of all other comrades present here. -0-