The Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea gave a banquet at the Mansudae Assembly Hall on the evening of the 11th in honour of the party and government delegation of the People's Republic of China on an official goodwill visit to the DPRK.

Invited to the banquet were the members of the party and government delegation of the People's Republic of China led by Zhao Leji, Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, Wang Yajun, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to the DPRK, and staff members of his embassy. 

Present there were Choe Ryong Hae, Member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK and First Vice-President of the State Affairs Commission and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK; Ko Kil Son, Secretary General of the Standing Committee of the SPA; Sung Jong Gyu, Minister of Culture; Mun Song Hyok, Deputy Department Director of the Central Committee of the WPK; Pak Myong Ho, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs; Ryu Un Hae, Vice-Minister of External Economic Relations, and other officials concerned.

Choe Ryong Hae made a speech at the banquet.

He said the visit of the Chinese party and government delegation to the DPRK is of great significance in wonderfully decorating the opening of the "year of DPRK-China friendship" whose start was declared by the top leaders of the two parties and two countries while exchanging congratulatory messages at the beginning of the new year and in writing a new chapter of the history of the DPRK-China friendship this year marking the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

He noted that the DPRK-China friendship with a long history and tradition was formed at the cost of blood and consolidated in the long course of the joint struggle for anti-imperialist independence and socialism and therefore, its invincibility and immutability are unprecedented in the world. He expressed the belief that both sides of the DPRK and China will substantially strengthen exchanges and cooperation in all fields including politics, the economy and culture in this significant year and thus add fresh vitality to developing the DPRK-China friendly relations on to a higher stage.

Next, Zhao Leji made a speech.

Saying that he pays an official goodwill visit to the DPRK at the head of the Chinese party and government delegation upon authorization of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and will take part in the opening ceremony of the "year of China-DPRK friendship", he touched on the fact that the Sino-Korean friendship provided and developed by the leaders of old generations of the two parties and two countries in the course of the socialist revolutionary struggle and construction over the past 75 years since the establishment of the diplomatic relations has been strengthened generation after generation.

He wished the Korean people new and greater successes in different fields of state building and stressed that the Chinese side, together with the Korean side, will carry forward the traditional friendship and intensify reciprocal cooperation regarding the important common understanding of the top leaders of the two parties and two countries as guidelines and thus make contribution to bringing a greater welfare to the peoples of the two countries and achieving peace, stability, development and prosperity of the region.