The statement noted that the China visit paid by Kim Jong Il in August after his visit to China in May was a historic occasion that brilliantly decorated the chapter of the DPRK-China friendship.

This was an expression of Kim Jong Il's steadfast will to further exalt generation after generation the tradition of the DPRK-China friendship provided by President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Mao Zedong, it held.

It noted that Kim Jong Il's visit to China proved once again the efforts of the party, government and people of the DPRK to preserve the peace and defuse the tension on the Korean Peninsula and the rest of Northeast Asia.