Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

Officials from North Korea and China pledge to work to improve bilateral relations. North Korea will broaden military cooperation with China, the head of the Supreme People's Assembly Presidium Kim Yong Nam, said on Wednesday.

"North Korea will work incessantly to strengthen and broaden exchanges and cooperation with China, and to intensify interaction between the national armies," he told a delegation of the Shenyang military district of China, led by the military district commander Zhang Youxia, which has arrived in North Korea.

Zhang in turn said that the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government are ready "to further develop and strengthen traditional Chinese-Korean friendship," and that the military district under his command "will contribute to the promotion of friendly relations between the national armies."

Local analysts note that Kim Yong Nam's statement was made soon after talks were held between Chinese President Hu Jintao and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who visited China on August 26 to 30.

They also note that Kim Yong Nam's statement may be connected with tensions between the two Koreas, following the incident involving the South Korean corvette, the Cheonan, which sank in the Yellow Sea on March 2010.

Seoul blamed Pyongyang for hitting the corvette with a submarine-launched torpedo.