It has been a year since Comrade Kim Jong Un , Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea paid an official goodwill visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

A year ago, Comrade Kim Jong Un made 8,000km long return journey to visit the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and had a meaningful meeting with President Nguyen Phu Trong, with a desire to unchangeably carry forward the historic tradition of the DPRK-Vietnam friendship and to develop the bilateral relations onto a higher stage as required by the new era in the convulsive world political situation.

His historic maiden visit to Vietnam constitutes an epochal event of great significance in invariably succeeding and developing the traditional relations of friendship and cooperation between the two countries through centuries and generations and opening up a new heyday.

The state relations between the DPRK and Vietnam have a long history of 70 years with a good tradition associated with the noble hearts of the preceding leaders of the two countries.

The two countries, both of which, in early days, fought against imperialism and colonialism in Asia with love for justice and peace and aspiration after socialism, established ambassadorial-level diplomatic relations on January 31, Juche 49(1950) and have so far closely supported and cooperated with each other in the sacred struggle for achieving common goals and ideals.

Comrade Kim Il Sung , the great leader of the Korean people, had historic meetings with Comrade Ho Chi Minh, the respected leader of the Vietnamese people, in July Juche 46(1957) in Pyongyang and in November Juche 47(1958) in Hanoi and deepened the genuine comradeship. He also paid an unofficial visit to Vietnam in November Juche 53(1964) during the war and extended unstinted moral and material support to President Ho Chi Minh and fraternal Vietnamese people in their struggle to push out the imperialist aggression forces and safeguard the independence and sovereignty of the country.

The history of the traditional friendship between the DPRK and Vietnam personally provided and nurtured by Comrade Kim Il Sung and Comrade Ho Chi Minh has been continued unvaryingly by the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il .

The meaningful meetings and talks the great Comrade Kim Jong Il had with Tran Duc Luong, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and Nong Duc Manh, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, held in Pyongyang in May Juche 91(2002) and October Juche 95(2007) respectively, served as significant occasions which consolidated and developed the relations between the two countries that had overcome harsh ordeals of history, along the road of carrying forward the common cause for socialist victory.

It remains the consistent position of the Government of our Republic to inherit through generations the DPRK-Vietnam relations of friendship and cooperation established with the bond of blood and to develop them in strength comprehensively onto a new higher level, true to the will of the preceding leaders and supreme leaders of both countries.

In the spirit of the agreement achieved at the meeting and talks between Comrades Kim Jong Un and Nguyen Phu Trong in March last year, we will ceaselessly exert proactive efforts to have active governmental visits, develop cooperation and exchanges onto a higher stage in all fields of economy, science and technology, national defense, sports, culture and art, press and information between the two countries and to further strengthen mutual cooperation among socialist countries for realizing genuine international justice on the international fora as well, in this year marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

We are firmly convinced of the vitality and great future of the DPRK-Vietnam relations of friendship and cooperation with a long historical root.

Pyongyang, 2 March, Juche 109(2020)