North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping expressing sympathy over the harrowing crash of a Chinese plane carrying 132 people, state media said on Tuesday.

In the letter sent after Monday’s crash, Kim said he hoped China could “eradicate the aftereffects of the incident as early as possible and the bereaved family members would overcome sorrow and lead a stabilized life” under Xi’s leadership, according to a report from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

While China has not announced an official death count, Kim’s letter says he expresses “deep sympathy” after hearing that there were “heavy casualties.”

Chinese authorities are currently scouring the densely forested slopes of southern China for survivors and flight recorders to piece together what led to the tragic crash.

Such letters of sympathy from Kim to the Chinese leader are relatively commonplace after natural disasters and other deadly incidents. In early 2018, Kim personally visited the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang after a tour bus crash killed dozens of Chinese tourists in North Korea. 

Deadly flooding in China’s Heibei Province also led Kim to send Xi a “verbal message of sympathy” in July 2021.

According to NK Pro’s KCNA Watch database, the letter marks the third known correspondence between Kim and Xi this year. 

North Korea and China have traditionally enjoyed close ties, which the state-run Pyongyang Times said was thanks to “deep intimacy between Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping.” 

Another letter that Kim sent to Xi in mid-February said the two countries are “strengthening strategic cooperation and unity to destroy the undisguised hostile policy and military threat” of the U.S.

Edited by Bryan Betts