North Korea and China sign agreement for cooperation on public health

North Korea and China sign agreement for cooperation on public health

2010-11-25 02:57:16 GMT+7 (ICT)

PYONGYANG (BNO NEWS) -- North Korea and China on Wednesday signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in public health and medical science, state media reported.

The agreement was signed during the visit of a Chinese public health delegation to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. Chinese Public Health Minister Chen Zhu said the traditional relations, friendship and cooperation between the two countries were continuing to grow.

He recalled that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il visited China twice this year, putting the bilateral ties of friendship and cooperation on a new high stage. He also said that the North Koreans are making 'great successes' in various fields in the spirit of 'self-reliance and fortitude.'

Few details about the agreement were released, which the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said will improve cooperation in the areas of public health and medical science.

Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of [North Korea] said he hopes that both countries' departments of public health further strengthen their communications and cooperation, according to the Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency.

China is North Korea's only major ally and its relations appear to be unaffected by North Korea's recent attack on South Korea. Four people were killed and many others were injured when the North fired nearly 200 artillery shells towards the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong.

But despite international condemnation, North Korea said it was South Korea who started it. "The south Korean puppet group perpetrated such reckless military provocation as firing dozens of shells inside the territorial waters of the DPRK side around Yonphyong Islet in the West Sea of Korea [..] despite the repeated warnings of the DPRK," a statement from the North's Supreme Command said.

The North also warned of further military action. "Should the south Korean puppet group dare intrude into the territorial waters of the DPRK even 0.001 mm, the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK will unhesitatingly continue taking merciless military counter-actions against it," the statement added.

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