BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th January, 2021) Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Monday on his election as the secretary general of the Workers' Party.
On Sunday, the party's 8th congress elected Kim as secretary general, thus reviving the title that had been held by his father and grandfather. Soon after coming to power in late 2011, Kim was elected as the party's first secretary. In 2016, the party decided to replace the secretariat with the Executive Policy Council, and Kim received the title of the chairman. Over the weekend, the secretariat was revived.
"I am pleased to learn that at the 8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, Comrade Kim Jong Un was recommended for the position of Secretary General of the Workers' Party of Korea. On behalf of the Communist Party of China and on my own behalf, I am sending congratulations to Comrade Secretary General," Xi said in a message, published by China Central Television.
Xi stressed that China and North Korea were like-minded Socialist nations and reaffirmed the Communist Party's "unswerving course" toward strengthening relations with Pyongyang.
The Chinese leader also expressed readiness to work together with Kim to promote the cause of socialism in the two countries, push for a political settlement on the Korean Peninsula, and maintain stability and prosperity in the region.
