NoKor’s Kim greets Chinese official

SOUTH KOREA — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally greeted a top Chinese official in Pyongyang and called for stronger ties with Beijing, state media said Sunday, as the traditional allies seek to heal battered relations.

Kim met with Song Tao, head of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee's international department, who was leading an art troupe to attend a spring festival in the North's capital.

The delegation arrived just weeks after Kim made a surprise visit to Beijing and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, signalling an attempt by both leaders to shore up a key alliance ahead of a period of high-stakes diplomacy.

Kim is expected to hold summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in this month and US President Donald Trump in the following weeks.

The North's official KCNA news agency said Kim welcomed Song and his delegation in a meeting on Saturday, where Song conveyed Xi's "warm greetings".

The two exchanged "profound views on the important matters of mutual concern" and the international situation, KCNA said, without providing details.

"The Supreme Leader said that he would positively carry forward and develop the traditional DPRK-China friendship into a fresh phase of development as required by a new era," it added, using the North's official acronym.

Beijing is North Korea's sole major ally, an alliance dating back to the 1950-1953 Korean War, but relations deteriorated after China backed United Nations sanctions to punish Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons programme.

More high-level exchanges and cooperation will follow between Beijing and Pyongyang, the report cited Kim as saying.

In response, Song vowed to make "a fresh contribution to promoting the prolonged and stable development of the ChinaDPRK relations."

Kim also hosted a banquet for the Chinese delegation, in which officials from the two sides toasted to their shared will "to more beautifully decorate the flower garden of the DPRKChina friendship."