Present there on invitation were Kim Yong Chun, vice-chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission and minister of the People's Armed Forces, Choe Thae Bok, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, Kim Yong Il and Kim Yang Gon, department directors of the C.C., the WPK, Jon Hui Jong, director of the Department for Foreign Affairs of the NDC of the DPRK, Kim Song Nam and Ri Yong Chol, vice department directors of the C.C., the WPK, and officials concerned.

Staff members of the Chinese embassy were on hand.

Liu Hongcai in his speech made at the friendly meeting said that the recent China visit of General Secretary Kim Jong Il marked an important occasion in further developing the traditional friendly relations between the parties and peoples of the two countries and it would be brilliantly recorded in the history of the Sino-DPRK relations.

He noted that the party and the government of China will join the party and the government of the DPRK in making efforts to contribute to putting the bilateral relations on a new high stage, bringing wellbeing to the peoples of the two countries and achieving regional peace and common prosperity.

He expressed belief that the Korean people under the leadership of the WPK headed by Kim Jong Il would achieve greater successes in the building of a great prosperous and powerful nation.

Choe Thae Bok in his speech referred to the fact that everything is going well and national power is growing stronger in China, and wished the Chinese people greater success in their future efforts.

Saying that it is the steadfast stand of the WPK and the DPRK government to consolidate and develop the DPRK-China friendship generation after generation, he stressed that the DPRK would make efforts to keep the flower garden of the bilateral friendship in fuller bloom together with the Chinese comrades in the future, too.

The participants in the meeting talked to one another about the need to boost the ties of friendship and cooperation between the two countries, deepening the friendship.