China invites new North Korean leadership to visit

[News_Editor]

China invites new North Korean leadership to visit

2010-10-11 23:59:33 GMT+7 (ICT)

PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA (BNO NEWS) -- As North Korean leader Kim Jong-il positions his son to succeed him, Chinese Pesident Hu Jintao has extended an invitation to Kim and the new leadership to visit China, state run Xinhua agency reported on Monday.

On Sunday, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) held a series of grand celebration activities in its capital Pyongyang, celebrating the 65th anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), and Chinese official Zhou Yongkang attended the celebrations.

During the visit, Yongkang, on behalf of President Hu invited "General Secretary Kim Jong-Il and the comrades of the new central leadership of the DPRK to visit China at a convenient time."

Kim, who has already visited China twice this year, was reportedly willing to travel China on a steady basis, extending a reciprocal invitation to the Chinese President.

Hu's invitation is seen as an acceptance of Kim Jong-Un as the future top leader.

After the death of founding president Kim Il-Sung in 1994, his son and current DPRK leader Kim Jong-Il took over the country. In 2008, he suffered from a heart attack, and even though he recovered favorably, he has been setting up his son Jong-Un to eventually succeed him.

Jong-Un was educated in Switzerland, but until late September his name had never been carried by official media nor had a photo of him been issued.

The North is locked in a dispute with the West over its nuclear weapons and is struggling to revive its crumbling command economy and feed its 24 million people.

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