Kim Jong Un shakes hands with Song Tao in Pyongyang on April 14, 2018 (Photo: Rodong Sinmun).
KJU’s last observed appearance was his attendance at a meeting of the WPK Political Bureau on April 9
Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) met with Communist Party of China International Liaison Department Director Song Tao at the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] Central Committee Office Complex #1 on April 14 (Saturday).
Portrait of Kim Jong Un hung from a wall in a lobby at the WPK Central Committee Office Complex #1 (Photo: KCTV).
Portrait of Xi Jinping on a wall opposite the KJU portrait at the WPK Central Committee Office Complex #1 (Photo: KCTV).
Kim Jong Un and Song Tao exchange pleasantries prior to their meeting on April 14, 2018 (Photo: KCNA/Rodong Sinmun).
Jong Un “warmly welcomed Song Tae and his party visiting the DPRK with a prestigious large-scale art troupe.” Song “conveyed the warm greetings of General-Secretary Xi Jinping.” Jong Un “expressed thanks for this and extended his greetings to Xi Jinping and other Chinese party and government leaders.” He said that the “Chinese comrades accorded cordial hospitality to him with utmost sincerity in token of warm comradeship and friendship during his recent unforgettable visit to China.”
Kim Jong Un meets with Song Tao at the WPK Central Committee Office Complex #1 on April 14, 2018 (Photo: KCNA/Rodong Sinmun).
Song Tao “gave his impressions of his DPRK visit” and said “they have personally experienced and been specially deeply impressed by the warm feelings and intense and special hospitality of the Korean party and government to the Chinese art troupe from the first moments of its arrival.” Song “expressed his heartfelt thanks to Kim Jong Un and to the WPK and the DPRK Government and the Korean people.”
CPC International Liaison Department Director Song Tao talks to Kim Jong Un on April 14, 2018 (Photo: Rodong Sinmun/KCNA).
Jong Un remarks that it is “the due obligation and behavior of the host and close friend for him to personally undertake the reception of the art troupe and give special treatment to it as the art troupe was personally selected and dispatched by Xi Jinping with special attention. All the relevant fields of the Korean party and government would provide all conditions for the Chinese art troupe at the highest level and on a top-priority basis during its stay.”
Kim Jong Un meets with Song Tao on April 14, 2018 (Photo: KCTV).
Kim Jong Un “wished the Chinese art troupe good success in its performances during its visit to Pyongyang and hoped that the peoples of the two countries would further deepen their understanding of each other and a new era of the DPRK-China art exchange be made with this visit as a momentum.”
Kim Jong Un and Song Tao meeting on April 14, 2018 (Photo: KCTV).
Kim Jong Un and Song Tao meet at the WPK Central Committee Office Complex #1 on April 14, 2018 (Photo: KCNA/Rodong Sinmun).
During the interaction “profound views” were “exchanged in earnest” on “the important matters of mutual concern of the WPK and the CPC and international situation.” Jong Un expressed “satisfaction over the recent development of the relations between the two parties and countries.” He 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 by further strengthening the bilateral relations between the two parties including exchanges of high-level delegations and undertaking the brisk cooperation and visits in various fields and sectors.”
Kim Jong Un meets with Song Tao on April 14, 2018 (Photo: Rodong Sinmun/KCNA).
Kim Jong Un reacts to Song Tao on April 14, 2018 (Photo: KCNA/Rodong Sinmun).
Song Tao noted that “it is the unshakable policy of the Chinese party and government to creditably preserve, consolidate and develop the China-DPRK relations” and said “they would make a fresh contribution to promoting the prolonged and stable development of the China-DPRK relations, producing the two countries and their peoples with happiness and ensuring peace and stability on the peninsula.”
