SEOUL, March 22, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - A North Korean ruling party delegation
travelling to China, Vietnam and Laos has arrived in Beijing, Pyongyang's
state media said Friday.

The delegation, led by alternate politburo member Kim Song Nam, was welcomed
by a representative of the Chinese Communist Party at the airport on
Thursday, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, without
specifying the exact nature of the trip.

An earlier KCNA report said the delegation would be travelling on to Vietnam
and Laos, also without disclosing the purpose of the trip.

According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, Kim is regarded as a "China
expert" in Pyongyang and served as an interpreter for late North Korean
leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

Beijing's state news agency Xinhua reported that the delegation met Thursday
with Wang Huning, chairman of China's top political consultative body.

China is North Korea's biggest economic benefactor and a traditional ally,
and current leader Kim Jong Un has sought to shore up relations with Beijing
while intensifying his aggressive rhetoric toward Seoul.

In January, Kim said Pyongyang and Beijing had designated 2024 as the "year
of DPRK-China friendship", using the acronym for the North's official name.

Noting the significance of the year, Xinhua said Wang had expressed on
Thursday China's willingness to work towards "concrete actions advancing the
friendship between the two sides, deepen collaboration, strengthen strategic
communication, and jointly work for a peaceful and stable external
environment".

Experts have said that North Korea appears to be resuming diplomatic
activities following years of self-imposed Covid-19 border shutdowns, and
earlier this month it dispatched a rare delegation led by Vice Foreign
Minister Pak Myong Ho to Mongolia.

North Korea also maintains relatively close ties with Laos and Vietnam.

Leader Kim held a historic, but ultimately unsuccessful, summit with former
US President Donald Trump in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi in 2019.

And on Friday, KCNA said Kim had sent a flower basket to Lao President
Thongloun Sisoulith to mark the 69th founding anniversary of the Lao People's
Revolutionary Party.

In 2013, Laos was widely criticised for repatriating nine North Korean
refugees, then aged 15 to 19, despite pleas by Seoul and the UN citing
concerns for their safety upon return to their repressive homeland.