Present at the reception on invitation were Wang Chen, member of the Political Bureau of the C.C., Communist Party of China (CPC) and vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Kong Xuanyou, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, Xu Luping, deputy head of the International Liaison Department of the C.C., CPC, and officials concerned of China.

Ji Jae Ryong, DPRK ambassador to China, and staff members of his embassy were on hand.

Ji Jae Ryong noted that President Kim Il Sung provided historic roots of DPRK-China friendship together with Comrades Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai and that leader Kim Jong Il visited China even in the last period of his life to consolidate the firm foundation for the development of the traditional DPRK-China friendship.

He said that the respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un developed the DPRK-China friendship into special relations unprecedented in the world through his historic three visits to China.

He noted that we will strive together with Chinese comrades to steadily develop the DPRK-China relations of friendship and cooperation, promote the cause of socialist construction in the two countries and defend peace and security in Northeast Asia and the world, true to the intentions of the top leaders of the two parties and countries.

Wang Chen said that Premier Zhou Enlai and President Kim Il Sung concluded the China-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance 57 years ago to fix the deep friendship, which the two countries established through the protracted revolutionary struggle and socialist construction, as a form of the legal treaty and to promote it as the national will.

He noted that General Secretary Xi Jinping and Chairman Kim Jong Un had historic meetings this year to have a series of important common understanding of carrying forward the traditional China-DPRK relations of friendship and strengthening the strategic communication, thus opening a new chapter for the friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

China supports the Workers' Party of Korea headed by Chairman Kim Jong Un steadily advancing along the road of socialism while leading the Korean people, he said, adding that China would make efforts for the development of the China-DPRK relations, taking the hands of Korean comrades.

Meanwhile, the DPRK consulate general in Shenyang of China and its Dandong Branch hosted receptions on July 11 and 12 to mark the anniversary.