North Korean Prime Minister Choi Young Rim met for face-to-face talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao on the afternoon of the 27th in Beijing.
Offering comments as the meeting got underway, President Hu stated, “This visit by Prime Minister Choi is important for the China-North Korea friendship. I trust that through this visit we will get to understand each other very well, bring our friendship closer and expedite cooperation between our two countries.”
For his part, Prime Minister Choi replied, “I completely agree.”
On the 26th, the day of his arrival, Choi also had talks with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, during which the two agreed to strengthen their cooperation in trade, investment and other economic areas.
Prime Minister Wen emphasized at the time, “We have been working to strengthen relations between the parties and governments of the two sides in the midst of the complex international system,” going on to add, “Let’s work on safeguarding our common benefit and deepening our strategic contacts and high level exchanges so as to strengthen cooperation and promote our mutual friendship.”
“We praise North Korea’s recent economic development and improvements to the people’s lives,” he went on, before calling for the two countries to “Raise the pace of cooperation in sectors like trade, investment, social infrastructure and natural resources.”
