SEOUL --
North Korean chief Kim Jong Un despatched a message to Chinese language President Xi Jinping congratulating him on the Beijing Winter Olympics as a "nice victory" and saying he needed to enhance relations between their nations, state information company KCNA reported on Friday.
"The profitable opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics regardless of the worldwide well being disaster and unprecedented extreme circumstances is one other nice victory received by socialist China," Kim stated within the letter, in response to KCNA.
Kim stated that he would "steadily develop the relations between the 2 events and the 2 nations to a brand new excessive stage."
The Olympics are as a result of open in Beijing on Friday.
The United Nations Safety Council will meet the identical day to debate a file month of North Korean missile assessments, together with the launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile on Sunday, the primary check of that kind since 2017.
China and Russia final month delayed a U.S. bid to impose UN sanctions on 5 North Koreans, diplomats stated.
In a earlier letter from sports activities authorities in January, North Korea stated it could not be attending the Video games in neighboring China, blaming "hostile forces" and COVID-19 dangers.
North Korean athletes are usually not eligible to compete beneath their nationwide flag after the nation was suspended from the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) till the tip of 2022 for failing to ship a staff to the Tokyo Summer season Olympics final yr, citing COVID-19 considerations.
The sooner letter additionally criticized unspecified strikes by the US, which in December introduced its authorities officers will boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics due to China's human rights file, whereas leaving U.S. athletes free to journey to Beijing to compete.
China has been North Korea's solely main ally for the reason that two signed a treaty in 1961, and worldwide sanctions imposed over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile packages have made it extra dependent than ever on Beijing for commerce and different help.
After practically two years of a number of the world's strictest border closures within the pandemic, North Korea resumed restricted commerce by prepare with China final month, however maintains close to complete lockdowns on different border journey.
(Reporting by Josh Smith Enhancing by Grant McCool)
On this photograph offered by the North Korean authorities, North Korean chief Kim Jong Un attends a gathering of the Central Committee of the ruling Staff Occasion in Pyongyang, North Korea, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021. (Korean Central Information Company/Korea Information Service by way of AP)
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