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

Liu Hongcai said at the reception that Premier Zhou Enlai and President Kim Il Sung signed the Sino-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance 49 years ago, adding that this marked an event of weighty importance in the history of the bilateral relations.

Noting that the Sino-DPRK friendly and cooperative relations have grown stronger under the deep care of the top leaders of the two countries in recent years, he stressed that it is the consistent policy of the party and the government of China to steadily boost these ties. He sincerely hoped that the Korean people would register greater successes in the socialist construction this year marking the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea under the leadership of General Secretary Kim Jong Il.

Speaking next, Choe Chang Sik said that President Kim Il Sung together with Premier Zhou Enlai provided a firm legal foundation for developing the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries in all fields.

He noted that the Chinese people have registered successes in building a harmonious socialist society based on scientific outlook on development under the leadership of the Communist Party of China with Hu Jintao as its general secretary.

It is the consistent stand of the Workers' Party of Korea and the DPRK government to develop the traditional DPRK-China friendship through generations to come, he said, stressing that the DPRK would strive to bring the flower garden of the DPRK-China friendship into fuller bloom in the future, too.

The consulate-general of the People's Republic of China in Chongjin, also gave a reception on July 9 on the same occasion.