His visit to China this time marked a historic event that strikingly demonstrated that the friendship forged by the leaders of the elder generation of the two countries in the bloody battles of the arduous revolutionary struggle and cultivated by them as a common asset is unbreakable and great, indeed, and it is the ever-lasting one which has steadily developed generation after generation.

The DPRK-China relations have developed into the unprecedentedly particular and solid friendly relations as the two countries are not only geographically close to each other but also firmly linked with each other by the bonds of militant friendship and genuine trust.

The peoples of the two countries were linked with each other by the unbreakable comradely relations in the course of the struggle against the Japanese imperialists.

The revolutionaries and peoples of the two countries fought shoulder to shoulder during the civil war in China after the defeat of the Japanese imperialists, consolidating the ties of internationalist moral obligation and friendship forged in the bloody anti-Japanese war.

The party, government and people of China sent their sons and daughters to the Korean front under the banner of "resisting America and aiding Korea, safeguarding the home and defending the motherland" despite a lot of difficulties in the early period of their nation-building when the Korean people were waging the Fatherland Liberation War against the aggression of the U.S. imperialists.

Vast plains, mountains and rivers, streets and villages of the two countries are closely associated with the blood shed by the peoples of the two countries in the fierce and bitter battles and amidst ordeals and stories about heroic feats and beautiful stories about their friendship linked them by their common destiny.

The tradition of blood-sealed ties and friendly relations between the two countries forged on the front of the class struggle against imperialism has steadily grown stronger on the basis of the particularly comradely trust and revolutionary obligation of the leaders of the two countries.

The tradition of the DPRK-China friendship provided by President Kim Il Sung together with the leaders of the elder generation of China is being carried forward and developed on a new higher stage thanks to the leaders of the two countries.

Kim Jong Il visited China in June 1983 as his first historic foreign visit. In the new century, too, he repeatedly visited China, performing immortal feats in the annals of DPRK-China friendship.

The several visits paid by the collective leadership of the new generation of China including Hu Jintao to the DPRK confirmed the unshakable will of the two parties and governments to develop on a higher stage the friendly relations provided by the revolutionary forerunners.

The DPRK and China have supported each other concerning domestic and foreign policy matters and closely cooperated with each other in their efforts to put them into practice.

The Pyongyang event for relaying the torch of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the events held to mark the "year of DPRK-China friendship" last year on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of DPRK-China diplomatic relations provided a new occasion in injecting vitality into boosting the friendship and exchanges in various fields between the two peoples and developing the bilateral relations.

The WPK and the Government of the DPRK have made positive efforts to consolidate and develop the DPRK-China friendship which has long-standing historic roots and tradition with the fraternal Chinese people who have sent unreserved support and encouragement to them in their just cause.

The DPRK-China friendship will steadily grow stronger generation after generation as it was forged in the crucible of the bloody revolutionary struggle on the basis of the common desire and aspiration of the two peoples and stood all sorts of tests and trials of history.