N. Korea's Kim vows to further develop ties with China

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met with China's top legislator, Zhao Leji, in Pyongyang and discussed ways to further deepen bilateral ties, the North's state media said Sunday, Azernews reports, citing Yonhap.

During the luncheon meeting held Saturday, Kim said Zhao's visit to Pyongyang is "of very weighty significance in demonstrating the invincibility of the DPRK-China friendship and further developing the traditional friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries as required by the times," according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Zhao, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, is the first high-ranking Chinese official to visit the North since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.

The three-day trip by the No. 3 official in the Chinese Communist Party came as the two countries mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations.