He was accompanied by Wang Jiarui, head of the International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China; Cai Wu, minister of Culture; Qi Jianguo, deputy chief of General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army; the vice-chairperson and first secretary of the Secretariat of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions; Lu Hao, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China; Liu Jieyi, deputy head of the International Liaison Department of the C. C., CPC, Zhao Weizhu, deputy secretary general of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress; the deputy secretary general of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; Fu Ying, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, Meng Hongwei, vice-minister of Public Security; Chen Jian, vice-minister of Commerce; Meng Xiaosi, vice-chairwoman of the All-China Women's Federation; Wu Donghe, chairman of the China-Korea Friendsh

ip Association; and others.

Floral baskets in the name of the Central Committee and the International Liaison Department of the C.C., CPC, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defence and the China-DPRK Friendship Association were laid before portraits of smiling President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

Senior Chinese party and state officials each made three bows in memory of Kim Jong Il.

Liu Yunshan said that upon the authorization of the C.C., CPC, they have visited the DPRK embassy to lay floral baskets and express deep reverence for Kim Jong Il, the great leader of the Korean people and close friend of the Chinese people, on the first anniversary of his demise.

Kim Jong Il is always alive in the hearts of the peoples of the two countries as he devoted himself to the Korean revolution and construction and people's happiness and made a historic contribution to the development of the Sino-DPRK relations of friendship with immense enthusiasm, Liu said, adding:

We are pleased that the Korean people have achieved great successes in building a thriving nation under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea headed by Comrade Kim Jong Un over the past one year since the passing of Comrade Kim Jong Il.

The new collective leadership of China with Xi Jinping as general secretary highly values the traditional Sino-DPRK friendship. The Sino-DPRK friendship forged and developed by the revolutionaries of the elder generation is unshakable.

Liu Yunshan expressed the belief that the relations between the two parties and two countries would grow stronger in the future.

He asked the DPRK ambassador to convey to Kim Jong Un deep condolences and warm greetings of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the CPC Central Committee and the Chinese government.