North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed his desire to “further strengthen” ties with China in a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, as attention turns to whom Beijing will send to attend an expected military parade in Pyongyang next month.

State media also reported that Kim gifted excavators to a remote province on the China border this week, part of a propaganda effort to demonstrate his “great loving care” for the people as he pushes a large-scale rural development initiative.

The coverage came as official outlets used the leader’s speech to