South Korea: DPRK holds ceremony marking completion of Friendship Tower interior remodeling project

SEOUL, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) held a ceremony Wednesday to mark the completion of an interior remodeling project for the China-DPRK Friendship Tower in Pyongyang.

Choe Ryong-hae, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly of DPRK attended the ceremony, among other officials from the country's ruling party, government and armed forces as well as citizens of the capital city.

At the invitation of the DPRK side, Chinese Ambassador to the DPRK Wang Yajun attended the ceremony.

Im Kyong Jae, minister of urban management of the DPRK, said at the ceremony that the Friendship Tower has been a proof and symbol of the DPRK-China friendship.

The successful completion of the interior remodeling project bears important significance in inheriting through generations the spirit of the martyrs of the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV), he added.

Wang said that the successful completion of the project demonstrated the importance the DPRK attaches to bilateral ties under the new circumstances.

He stressed that under the strategic design and guidance of the top leaders of China and the DPRK, the traditional friendship between the two countries has been lifted to a new and higher level.

He said China is willing to work with the DPRK to implement the important consensus of the top leaders of the two parties and the two countries, so as to carry forward the traditional friendship through generations, and bring benefits to the two countries and their people.

The speeches were followed by a solemn wreath-laying ceremony, and all participants observed a moment of silence in honor of the CPV martyrs.

The Friendship Tower was built in 1959 in Pyongyang to commemorate the martyrs of the Chinese People's Volunteers who sacrificed their lives during the Korean War.