Also, the "Flower Girl", one of the "Five DPRK Revolutionary Operas", conducted a performance tour of over 10 Chinese cities from April 15 to May 31.

"The unprecedented performance was extremely successful and will be a landmark in the traditional North Korea-China friendship," said Choe Chang Il, the head of the operatic delegation, "It will boost the exchange of culture and art between the two countries."

The Pyongyang leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay was seen by North Korea as a good chance to strengthen its traditional friendship with China.

Hundreds of thousands of dancing and singing Pyongyang residents lined the torch relay route, displaying firm support to the Olympics even as some anti-China forces attempted to disturb and politicize the games.

North Korea accords top priority to China's concerns, top North Korean legislator Kim Yong Nam said during the torch relay in the capital. The Chinese people became newly aware of the great friendship borne by the Korean people during the Pyongyang torch relay.

A friend in need is a friend indeed. China has provided economic and humanitarian aid to North Korea for years. Factories built by China have played an important role in the economy of North Korea. On its part, North Korea offered 100,000 US dollars in aid to China after the powerful earthquake in southwestern China's Sichuan province on May 12.

"The people of North Korea consider the distress suffered by the Chinese people to be their own," North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun said, "It may not be a large amount of money, but it reflects the wish of our people to share the suffering of the victims of the disaster."

North Korean leaders also expressed hope that their nation could effectively help people in the quake-stricken areas emerge from the aftermath of the quake and bring their lives to normal as soon as possible.

China and North Korea share a supportive relationship on the international platform as well. China supports the peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula and North Korea supports the "one-China policy".

China and North Korea have maintained fruitful cooperation in the six-party talks, which are aimed at denuclearizing the Korean peninsula, contributing to the peace and stability of the peninsula and of northeast Asia as a whole.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2008)