Present there on invitation were State Councilor Dai Bingguo, a vice-minister of Railways, Vice-Minister of Culture Zhao Shaohua and other officials concerned of China.

On hand were the DPRK friendship delegation led by Vice-President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly Yang Hyong Sop, the delegation of the DPRK-China Friendship Association led by Minister of Public Health Choe Chang Sik and Ambassador Ji Jae Ryong and staff members of the embassy.

Speeches were made there.

Dai Bingguo said that the China-DPRK treaty signed by Premier Zhou Enlai and President Kim Il Sung on July 11, 1961, was a great event in the history of the bilateral relations.

Over the past 50 years both sides have trusted, supported and closely cooperated with each other in the spirit of the treaty, thus promoting the steady development of the bilateral relations and positively contributing to regional peace and stability, he noted.

In recent years the China-DPRK relations have made steady and fresh progress thanks to the warm care of the top leaders of the two countries and the joint efforts of both sides, he said.

It is the fixed strategic policy of the Chinese party and government to steadily boost the traditional China-DPRK relations of friendship and cooperation, he said, adding: The Chinese people will, together with the Korean people, carry into practice the important common understandings, reached by the top leaders of the two countries, in the spirit of inheriting the tradition, facing up to the future, building good-neighborly friendship and strengthening cooperation.

He stressed the need to reenergize mutual visit of personnel of the two countries, intensify the strategic mutual understanding and deepen technical and multilateral cooperation to put the China-DPRK relations onto a higher stage.

Meanwhile, a photo exhibition and a reception took place at the DPRK Consulate General in Shenyang on July 9.