He received New Year cards from the Mongolian president, the president of the Syrian Arab Republic and his wife, the president of the Republic of Serbia, the president of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria and the prime minister of the Republic of India.

He also received New Year's cards from the general chairman and the secretary general of the Central Directive Council of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the secretary general of the International Kim Il Sung Prize Council and the International Kim Jong Il Prize Council, the co-chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kim Il Sung-Kim Jong Il Foundation and the director-general of the UNESCO.

Meanwhile, the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea received a New Year's card from the Socialist Democrats' Union of the DR Congo.