Present there on invitation were Vice-President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly Yang Hyong Sop, Minister of Public Health Choe Chang Sik who is chairman of the Central Committee of the DPRK-China Friendship Association and officials concerned.

Members of the Chinese embassy here were on hand.

Liu Xiaoming said in his speech that under the leadership of General Secretary Kim Jong Il and the Workers' Party of Korea the Korean people have achieved great successes in their positive efforts to fully implement the tasks set forth in the joint editorial and open the gate of a great prosperous powerful nation this year in which the 60th anniversary of the DPRK fell.

Noting that the year 2009 marking the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries would be a very significant year, he stressed that in the new year the two countries would develop exchanges and cooperation in different fields onto a high level to record more brilliant chapter in the history of the Sino-DPRK friendly and cooperative relations.

Yang Hyong Sop referred in his speech to the fact that the friendly relations between the DPRK and China have favorably developed this year under the deep concern of the top leaders of the two countries.

He sincerely hoped that everything would go well in China in the future, too, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China with Hu Jintao as its general secretary.

Expressing the belief that the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries would further expand and develop in different fields with the "Year of DPRK-China Friendship" as a momentum, he stated that he would make joint efforts with the Chinese comrades to bring into full bloom the flower garden of the DPRK-China friendship.