China’s top legislator and a senior North Korean official emphasized opening a “new chapter” of Beijing-Pyongyang relations, the North’s state media said yesterday, as they met for one of the most high-level talks between the allies in years.
Beijing’s third highest-ranking official, Chinese National People’s Congress Standing Committee Chairman Zhao Leji (趙樂際), is on a goodwill visit to the nuclear-armed North as the two countries mark 75 years of diplomatic ties.
China is North Korea’s most important economic benefactor and diplomatic ally, obstructing US-led efforts at the UN Security Council alongside Russia to impose stricter sanctions on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s government in response to its increased weapons tests.
Photo: Korean Central News Agency via EPA-EFE
Zhao and North Korean Supreme People’s Assembly Standing Committee Chairman Choe Ryong-hae attended an opening ceremony for the “year of DPRK-China friendship” in Pyongyang on Friday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, using the acronym for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
In a speech, Zhao said it is the “consistent strategic policy” of Beijing to “successfully defend, consolidate and develop” China-North Korea relations, KCNA reported.
China is willing to “thoroughly implement the important common understanding” of the two countries and “open up a new chapter of China-DPRK friendship along with the times,” he added.
Choe said the two countries’ relationship “has greeted a new heyday under the wise leadership” of their leaders, KCNA said.
Choe and Zhao were seen sitting next to each other watching performances by what KCNA said were “prestigious art troupes” of the two nations at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre, Agence France-Presse footage showed.
Some performers wore colorful traditional Korean and Chinese garments, and what appeared to be the final moment of the event highlighted a massive image of the countries’ flags, accompanied by the phrase “eternal friendship.”
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
RSS