Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Ri Kil Song praised the DPRK – China friendship at a rare high-level meeting on Wednesday.

South Korean’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) confirmed to NK News that this is the first time that a high-profile North Korean official has visited Beijing in nine months.

Ri Su Yong, a Vice Chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), held talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping on June 2, 2016.

And Liu Zhenmin, Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and his DPRK counterpart Pak Myong Gukheld bilateral talks over ongoing border issues in Pyongyang