North Korean leader Kim Jong-un highlighted the “blood” ties between Pyongyang and Beijing and pledged that the friendly relationship between the two countries will carry on for generations. 

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said on Thursday that Kim made the remarks during a visit to the Friendship Tower in Pyongyang on Wednesday to mark the 68th anniversary of the armistice. The monument was set up to commemorate China’s participation in the Korean War. 

Placing a wreath, Kim said China helped the North “at the cost of their blood” when his country faced “the hardest and most difficult trials.”

He said the North-China friendship, which he called “kindred ties,” will carry on for generation after generation on the path toward a common cause. 

It marks the third time Kim has visited the tower since he took power. The other visits followed the 70th anniversary of China’s participation in the three-year war in October last year and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the North in June 2019.

[Photo : YONHAP News]