China's Xi Congratulates Kim Jong-un on 73rd Anniversary of North Korea's Founding

BEIJING (Sputnik) – Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on 9 September regarding the 73rd anniversary of the foundation of North Korea, the state-run China Central Television reported.

"I am confident that under the firm leadership of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, headed by comrade General Secretary [Kim Jong Un], the North Korean people will be able to build a better country based on solidarity and progress," Xi wrote in the letter.

Beijing-Pyongyang relations are growing stronger with each day, the Chinese leader noted, adding that he finds the development of bilateral relations of great importance. Xi expressed readiness to jointly promote stable and long-term friendship and cooperation between the two states.

North Korea's Day of the Foundation of the Republic is one of the most important holidays in the country. Marked on September 9 each year since 1948, it commemorates the day the country proclaimed independence three years after the Liberation of Korea from Japan by Soviet and US forces. The Soviet-backed North Korea was declared as an independent nation following the formation of the US-backed Republic of Korea in the south.