North Korea's Kim meets with top Chinese official

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with a senior Chinese official late on Thursday to discuss closer ties with its main ally Beijing, state media said.

Mr Kim received a Chinese delegation led by Wang Jiarui, head of the Communist Party's international department, in Pyongyang, China's Xinhua agency and the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

The young leader, who took power after the death of his father Kim Jong Il in December, asked Mr Wang to convey his regards to Chinese President Hu Jintao.

The North aims to work with Beijing to bring "their friendship, established and nurtured by the older generations of leaders on both sides, to a higher level", Mr Kim was reported as saying by Xinhua.