North Korea pushes to boost China ties in message marking Communist Party’s centenary

Kim Jong-un sent a message to President Xi Jinping congratulating him on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party

The message comes a day after reports he told a Politburo meeting that a lapse in North Korea’s virus campaign had caused a ‘great crisis’

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during a Politburo meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang. Photo: AP

Published: 1:42pm, 1 Jul 2021Updated: 8:49pm, 1 Jul 2021

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday said he will push to further upgrade relations with China, his main ally, as he struggles to navigate his country out of a deepening crisis linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kim made the comments in a message to Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulating him on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

“The Workers’ Party of Korea, by its firm unity with the Chinese Communist Party, would raise [North Korea]-China friendship to a new strategic point as required by the times and as desired by the peoples of the two countries,” Kim was quoted as saying.

In an apparent reference to the United States, Kim said that “hostile forces’ vicious slander and all-round pressure upon the Chinese Communist Party are no more than a last-ditch attempt and they can never check the ongoing advance of the Chinese people”, according to KCNA.

Kim’s message came a day after state media said he had told a powerful Politburo meeting that a “crucial” lapse in the country’s campaign against the virus had caused a “great crisis”.

He did not elaborate, but there was speculation that Kim may have aimed to raise a call for international help, including vaccine shipments.