Enhanced ties eyed with the DPRK

Participants in a parade wave bouquets and carry the DPRK national flag as they march with a model of the Unha space launch vehicle in Kim Il-sung Square, Pyongyang, on Tuesday. WONG MAYE-E/AP

China hopes to enhance healthy and good relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang made the remark at a regular news conference in Beijing a day after the DPRK concluded its first ruling party congress in 36 years and its leader Kim Jong-un was promoted as chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea.

Lu said China upholds a policy of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, as well as safeguarding its peace and stability, and resolving issues through dialogue and consultation.

On Monday, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, sent a congratulatory letter to Kim.

Xi said the friendship between the two countries was personally forged and carefully fostered by their leaderships from the older generation.

Speaking on behalf of the CPC Central Committee and personally, Xi said he hopes that people in the DPRK will see new accomplishments in the cause of building socialism under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea headed by Kim.

China is ready to work with the DPRK to promote the constant development of bilateral relations for the benefit of the two countries and the two peoples, and to make positive contributions to safeguarding peace, stability and development in the region, Xi said.

At the congress, Kim described the DPRK as a responsible nuclear weapons state, saying it will strive for world denuclearization and faithfully fulfill obligations of nuclear nonproliferation.

Pyongyang has conducted a series of nuclear tests and satellite launches since January that have increased tension on the peninsula.