North Korea has completed the renovation of a tower symbolizing its friendship with China as the 70th anniversary of the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War approaches, the North's state media said Thursday.
A ceremony marking the completion of the project, which was carried out upon North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's order, took place in Pyongyang on Wednesday, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
The event came as the North has been seeking to strengthen ties with China, its traditional ally and economic benefactor, amid global sanctions on its nuclear and missile programs, and stalled denuclearization talks with the United States.
Participants, including Choe Ryong-hae, chairman of the standing committee of the Supreme People's Assembly, and Chinese Ambassador Wang Yajun, highlighted their history of friendship and vowed to bolster this relationship going forward.
Im Kyong-jae, Pyongyang's minister of urban management, said that the unity and cooperation the people of the two countries have demonstrated against what he called imperialist forces is a “living example” of international order.
The North Korean official also expressed Pyongyang's intent to “more firmly cement the North Korea-China relationship of friendly cooperation to meet the demands of a new era.”
Wang said the renovation of the Sino-Korean Friendship Tower demonstrates the “will of the people of the two countries to ceaselessly improve the blood-forged friendship between China and North Korea.”
He reaffirmed that Beijing remains firmly committed to defending and strengthening their bilateral ties regardless of changes in regional and international political situations.
The Korean War armistice was signed July 27, 1953, a little over three years after tank-led North Korean troops invaded South Korea. The United States and 20 other allied countries fought on the side of South Korea under the UN flag.
Calling the conflict the Great Fatherland Liberation War, North Korea has designated the anniversary as Victory Day. (Yonhap)