He warmly welcomed Song Tao and his party visiting the DPRK with a prestigious large-scale art troupe and had a cordial talk with them.

At the meeting Song Tao conveyed the warm greetings of General Secretary Xi Jinping to Chairman Kim Jong Un.

Kim Jong Un expressed thanks for this and extended his greetings to Xi Jinping and other Chinese party and government leaders. They he said with deep emotion that the Chinese comrades accorded cordial hospitality to him with utmost sincerity in token of warm comradely friendship during his recent unforgettable visit to China.

Song Tao gave his impressions of DPRK visit, saying that they have personally experienced and been specially and deeply impressed by the warm feelings and intense and special hospitality of the Korean party and government to the Chinese art troupe from the first moment of its arrival.

He expressed their heartfelt thanks to Kim Jong Un and to the WPK and the DPRK government and the Korean people.

Kim Jong Un said that it is due obligation and behavior of the host and close friend for him to personally undertake the reception of the art troupe and give special treatment to it as the art troupe was personally selected and dispatched by Xi Jinping with special attention. All the relevant fields of the Korean party and government would provide all conditions for the Chinese art troupe at the highest level and on a top-priority basis during its stay, he added.

He wished the Chinese art troupe good success in its performances during its visit to Pyongyang and hoped that the peoples of the two countries would further deepen their understanding of each other and a new era of the DPRK-China art exchange be made with this visit as a momentum.

Exchanged in earnest at the meeting were profound views on the important matters of mutual concern of the WPK and the CPC and the international situation.

Expressing satisfaction over the recent development of the relations between the two parties and countries, the Supreme Leader said that he would positively carry forward and develop the traditional DPRK-China friendship into a fresh phase of development as required by a new era by further strengthening of the bilateral relations between the two parties including exchange of high-level delegations and undertaking the brisk cooperation and visits in various fields and sectors.

Noting it is the unshakable policy of the Chinese party and government to creditably preserve, consolidate and develop the China-DPRK relations, Song Tao said that they would make a fresh contribution to promoting the prolonged and stable development of the China-DPRK relations, providing the two countries and their peoples with happiness and ensuring peace and stability on the peninsula.