Chinese President Xi Jinping replied to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s congratulatory message on China’s Communist Party Congress, saying he hopes to promote ties between the two countries, North Korea’s state news agency said on Thursday.
“I wish that under the new situation, the Chinese side would make efforts with the DPRK [North Korean] side to promote relations between the two parties...” Mr. Xi wrote in the message dated Nov. 1, according to the North’s official news agency KCNA. The exchange is routine, but it comes as China has come under intense pressure from the U.S. to do more to rein in the North’s nuclear tests, which have raised tensions globally. Mr. Xi’s message comes days before U.S. President Donald Trump makes his first official visit to Asia, with North Korea high on the agenda.
Also, North Korea’s state media on Thursday dismissed as “misinformation” a recent media report that the North’s sixth nuclear test killed many people.
Japanese broadcaster TV Asahi had reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the issue, that North Korea’s nuclear test site collapsed after Pyongyang’s sixth atomic test in September, possibly killing more than 200 people.
The North’s official KCNA said it was a “false report” intended to slander the country and its advances in nuclear development.
Mr. Kim sent a congratulatory message to Mr. Xi last week at the end of China’s Communist Party Congress, wishing him “great success” as head of the nation.