Chinese official in visit spotlights North Korea relations

BEIJING — A top-ranking official Chinese official reaffirmed ties with North Korea during a meeting Saturday with the country’s leader Kim Jong Un in the capital Pyongyang, China’s state media reported, in the highest-level talks between the allies in years.

The visit by Zhao Leji, who ranks third in the ruling Communist Party hierarchy and heads the ceremonial parliament, came as North Korea has test fired missiles to pressure South Korea and its ally, the United States.

The Xinhua News Agency reported Zhao told Kim at the meeting concluding his three-day visit that China, the North’s most important source of economic aid, looked forward to further developing ties, but made no mention of the political situation on the peninsula or the region.

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 75 years ago, China and North Korea have been “good neighbors and struggled together to attain a common destiny and level of development,” Xinhua quoted Zhao as saying.

China fought on behalf of the Communist state against the U.S. during the 1950-1953 Korean War.