Present there on invitation were Premier Choe Yong Rim, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the C.C., the Workers' Party of Korea, Kim Yong Chun, member of the Political Bureau of the C.C., the WPK and minister of the People's Armed Forces, Kang Sok Ju, member of the Political Bureau of the C.C., the WPK and vice-premier, Kim Yong Il, alternate member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the C.C., the WPK, Pak Ui Chun, minister of Foreign Affairs, Kim Jong Suk, chairwoman of the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, officials of party and armed forces organs, ministries and national institutions.

Present there were a friendship delegation of China led by Zhang Dejiang, member of the Political Bureau of the C.C., the Communist Party of China and vice-premier of the State Council, a delegation of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the China-Korea Friendship Association headed by Wu Donghe, chairman of the China-Korea Friendship Association, staff members of the Chinese embassy here and Chinese guests staying in the DPRK.

Liu Hongcai said that General Secretary Kim Jong Il visited China several times, meeting with leading officials of the Chinese party and state including General Secretary Hu Jintao and reaching common understanding.

Both sides are significantly marking the golden jubilee of the treaty by jointly holding splendid events, he said. This is demonstrating at home and abroad the solidity and invincibility of the traditional Sino-DPRK friendship and promoting a new development of the bilateral friendly and cooperative relations, he added.

He wholeheartedly wished the Korean people greater success in socialist construction under the leadership of the WPK headed by Kim Jong Il.

The Chinese side will join the DPRK side to inherit the tradition and hew out the future and thus strive to bring about richer fruition of the Sino-DPRK friendly relations, he stressed.

Kim Yong Chun recalled in his speech that President Kim Il Sung signed the DPRK-China treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance together with Primer Zhou Enlai, providing a solid legal foundation for steadily boosting the DPRK-China friendship on the road of accomplishing the anti-imperialist and socialist cause.

It is the unanimous will and determination of the two parties and governments to steadily consolidate the DPRK-China friendship, the precious legacy and common treasure handed down by the revolutionaries of the elder generations of the two countries.

He wished the fraternal Chinese people greater successes in successfully carrying out the tasks of the first year of the 12th Five-Year Plan under the leadership of the Communist Party of China with Hu Jintao as its general secretary and building a comprehensively well-off society.