SEOUL – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met the Chinese delegation which visited Pyongyang to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Korean War truce and vowed to develop the two countries’ relations to a “new high”, the North’s state media said on Saturday.

Mr Kim hosted a reception for the Chinese officials led by Communist Party Politburo member Li Hongzhong on Friday. The Chinese delegation was the first to visit North Korea since the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Reaffirmed at the talk was the stand of the parties and governments of the two countries to cope with the complicated international situation on their own initiative and steadily develop the friendship and comradely cooperation onto a new high stage,” the North’s KCNA news agency said.

The meeting took place after Chinese and Russian officials stood shoulder to shoulder with Mr Kim on Thursday as they reviewed his newest nuclear-capable missiles and attack drones at a military parade in the capital.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu’s visit was the first by Moscow’s top defence official since the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union.

The Russian and Chinese officials’ appearance at events with the North’s nuclear-capable missiles – banned by the United Nations Security Council with Chinese and Russian support – was in contrast from previous years, when Beijing and Moscow sought to distance themselves from their neighbour’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile development.

Mr Kim, Mr Shoigu and Mr Li talked, laughed and saluted as North Korean troops marched and weapons rolled past, photographs and footage aired by North Korean state media showed.

The parade included North Korea’s latest Hwasong-17 and Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to KCNA. They are believed to have the range to strike anywhere in the United States.

The event also featured a flyover by new attack and spy drones, KCNA reported. REUTERS