Pyongyang, October 23 (KCNA) -- Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of Amur Region of the Russian Federation, gave his impressions of the recent visit to the DPRK.

He said:

We visited the DPRK at the time when the Russia-DPRK relations are growing stronger.

This visit took place under the deep care of General Secretary Kim Jong Il.

I extend sincere thanks to him.

During the stay we received cordial hospitality from the Korean people wherever we went. Through it, we deeply felt the Korean people's friendship toward the Russian people.

The meeting between President Dmitri Medvedev and leader Kim Jong Il made a great contribution to developing the friendly relations between the two countries.

We saw the courageous and diligent Korean people working hard, the governor noted, saying:

All work going on in the DPRK is for making the living of the people richer.

Amur Region will further strengthen exchange and cooperation with the DPRK in different fields.

This will be conducive to development of the Russia-DPRK friendly relations.

We hope that the heroic Korean people will achieve bigger success in developing the economy and improving the people's living standard under the wise leadership of Kim Jong Il.