opinion

January 31 is the 74th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties, the two parties and governments and the peoples of the two countries have steadily consolidated and developed friendly relations through mutual support and cooperation.

The bond between the two countries is the deep-rooted ties of friendship and cooperation associated with the painstaking efforts of the preceding leaders.

The DPRK visit made by President Ho Chi Minh in 1957 and the visit to the then Democratic Republic of Vietnam by President Kim Il Sung in 1958 were important occasions when a firm foundation was laid for the development of friendly and cooperative ties between the two countries.

Kim Il Sung assisted both morally and materially the Vietnamese people in their anti-US resistance for national salvation and socialist construction. He visited Vietnam again in November 1964 when the country was undergoing ordeals and trials of the war.

The visit provided the most invigorating support and encouragement to the fighting Vietnamese people. They were deeply impressed by his genuine sense of internationalist obligation and noble virtues.

The DPRK-Vietnam friendly and cooperative relations based on a noble sense of comradely obligation of and close friendship between Kim Il Sung and Ho Chi Minh were further cemented in the course of their peoples’ struggle for defending national sovereignty and advancing the cause of socialism while dedicating blood as they braved difficulties and trials shoulder to shoulder.

The land of Vietnam is permeated with the red blood of the martyrs of the Korean People’s Army who sacrificed their youth and lives in the grim war for defending the country’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

That is why Ho Chi Minh related to Comrade Kim Il Sung helping Vietnam wholeheartedly as his real brother and a true friend of the Vietnamese people.

The bilateral relations which have been inherited and developed from one century to the next and generation after generation have evolved into a special comradely and strategic relationship with the historic official goodwill visit to Vietnam paid by General Secretary Kim Jong Un in April 2019 as momentum.

The Vietnamese people are now striving to defend and advance socialism they chose under the guidance of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

They are waging a dynamic struggle to implement the decisions of the 13th Party Congress, rallying closely behind the CPV headed by Nguyen Phu Trong.

While consistently adhering to its foreign policy for independence, friendship, cooperation and development, the country promotes friendship and cooperation with different countries of the world.

The Korean people sincerely hope that the Vietnamese counterpart will make fresh success in their efforts to build a thriving and developed socialist country.

It is the steadfast stand of the Korean Party and government to invariably carry on and develop the friendly and cooperative relations forged and consolidated between the two countries in the joint struggle for accomplishing the socialist cause true to the desires of the preceding leaders and the top leaders of the two countries.

The bilateral ties of friendship, unity and cooperation will continue to develop in the future.