Jia Qinglin, member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), met in Beijing with Kim Jong-il, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the National Defense Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), a spokesman with the International Department of the CPC Central Committee said Wednesday.  

Jia recalled with pleasure his visit to the DPRK in 2002, and expressed his heart-felt delight with the DPRK people's achievement in building a socialist development path of its own style.

He expressed his wishes that the DPRK's economy will be further developed, its society further advanced and its people's life continuously improved under the leadership of Kim.

Kim paid an unofficial visit to China from April 19 to 21 at the invitation of General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2004)