Chinese foreign minister tells North Korean minister Pyongyang is making strides despite US ‘oppression’

SEOUL, April 10 (Reuters) – North Korea has achieved remarkable successes despite plots by the United States and Western powers to pressure and isolate Pyongyang, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday, the North’s official KCNA news agency reported.

KCNA said Wang and his North Korean counterpart, Choe Son Hui, praised their leaders for starting a new era in their countries’ friendly relations at the historic summit in September and promised to further develop relations in the interests of their people.

It was stated that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi came to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, on Thursday and later met with Choe, who hosted a banquet for him.

Wang was quoted by KCNA as saying: “The new achievements in socialist construction by (North) Korea, amid the intensifying plots of the United States and Western powers towards isolation and oppression, are the fruit of the wise leadership of General Secretary Kim Jong Un.”

KCNA said the two agreed that it was their governments’ unwavering stance to further develop the relationship despite the turmoil in the global environment.

The two neighbors are trying to revive their active and solid political and economic ties, which cooled with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and North Korea’s intense effort to establish strategic relations with Russia since 2023.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to host US President Donald Trump next month. Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in restarting negotiations with North Korean leader Kim.

(Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Daniel Wallis)