Kim Jong Un vows to promote cooperative relations with China

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, has assured that he would promote cooperative relations with China, Reuters reported citing KCNA media report.

"I believe ... the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)-China friendly and cooperative relations would steadily develop in conformity with the requirements of the new era and the desire of the two peoples in the future," Kim said in the letter sent on Thursday.

The letter was in response to congratulations Xi sent for the North's founding anniversary this month where the Chinese president had expressed his willingness to strengthen strategic communication and working-level cooperation.

Recently, Kim returned to Pyongyang after wrapping up a week-long Russia tour. On this rare summit between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin, China said, "The visit of the North Korean leader to Russia is an arrangement between the two countries and pertains to relations between North Korea and Russia".

The Chinese foreign ministry added, "China and North Korea are friendly neighbours connected by mountains and rivers...At present, China-North Korea relations are developing well".

China is North Korea's longtime treaty ally and main economic benefactor. President Xi Jinping said in April Beijing would push for a "higher stage" of relations with Pyongyang.

On North Korea's 75th founding anniversary on 9 September, North Korea invited Chinese delegates and Russian artists to a paramilitary parade featuring rocket launchers pulled by trucks and tractors.

In July, Kim invited delegations led by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Li Hongzhong to a huge military parade in Pyongyang, where he rolled out his most powerful weapons, including intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to target the US mainland.

To counter the deepening security cooperation between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo, Kim has been trying to boost the visibility of his partnerships with Moscow and Beijing as he seeks to break out of diplomatic isolation and have North Korea be a part of a united front against the United States.