The president recalled that President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il attached importance to the development of the relations between the two countries.

It is only the DPRK that stands up against the arbitrary practices of big powers at present, he noted, adding that the world admires the DPRK which is tiding over the crisis while taking toughest measures and applying dexterous diplomatic art under the leadership of supreme leader Kim Jong Un.

He hoped that the DPRK would seek a negotiated settlement of the nuclear issue and the issues of the relations between Washington and Pyongyang and inter-Korean relations.