January 31 is the 73rd anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Since then the two countries have cemented their friendly ties while sharing trials and hardships and providing self-sacrificing assistance in the course of defending national sovereignty and advancing their common cause of socialism.

Their bonds of friendship were forged by the leaders of the two countries decades ago.

President Ho Chi Minh’s visit to the DPRK in 1957 and Premier Kim Il Sung’s Vietnam visit in 1958 were landmark events in the development of the bilateral relationship and the building of socialism in the two countries.

Kim Il Sung offered unstinting material assistance and spiritual support to the Vietnamese people in their anti-US resistance for national salvation and socialist construction. Among his two rounds of Vietnam visits, the one in November 1964 was made when they were going through the ordeals and pains of a war.

The visit was the greatest support and encouragement to the fighting Vietnamese and they were deeply moved by his genuine internationalist sense of obligation and high moral repute.

The land of Vietnam is permeated with the blood of DPRK service personnel who fought by dedicating their youth and lives on the battleground for defending the country’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

That is why Ho Chi Minh said that Comrade Kim Il Sung was a genuine friend of the Vietnamese people and that nobody else offered sincere assistance to them like him.

The DPRK-Vietnam ties achieved steady growth thanks to Chairman Kim Jong Il and Vietnamese leaders of different generations.

The bonds have developed into special comradely ties and strategic relations since the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un paid an official goodwill visit to Vietnam in March 2019.

The agreements reached at the historic summit meeting in Hanoi set an important milestone in boosting strategic cooperation between the two countries and serve as the motive power for the struggle of their peoples for socialism.

Both countries keep step with each other in major issues of international relations as they strive to ensure peace and security in Asia and the rest of the world and establish a fair international order.

Today, the Vietnamese people are dynamically advancing socialism they chose under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

They are now exerting themselves to implement the decisions of the 13th Congress of the CPV, rallying firmly around the party headed by Nguyen Phu Trong.

As it consistently pursues a foreign policy for sovereignty, independence, friendship, cooperation and development, Vietnam works to strengthen friendly and cooperative relations with different countries of the world.

The Korean people sincerely wish their Vietnamese counterpart fresh success in their efforts to build a powerful and prosperous socialist state under the leadership of the CPV.

It is the steadfast stand of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the DPRK government to invariably inherit and develop the bilateral friendly and cooperative ties in the joint struggle for accomplishing the socialist cause, true to the desire of preceding and current top leaders of the two countries.

The bilateral friendship, unity and cooperative relations with a long history and tradition will grow stronger in the future.