Chinese President Hu Jintao sent North Korea's new leader Kim Jong-un a congratulatory message on assuming the supreme commandership of the North's military, the official KCNA reported on Sunday.
Kim, believed to be in his late 20s, last week received the supreme commandership of the North's Korean People's Army (KPA), one of the titles that his late father Kim Jong-il held before he died due to a heart attack on Dec. 17, the report said.
"I extend warm congratulations to you upon your assumption of supreme commandership of the KPA. The peoples and armies of China and the DPRK have deep traditional friendship," Hu was quoted as saying in the message. DPRK, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is the official name of North Korea.
"I believe that the traditional Sino-DPRK relations of friendship and cooperation will steadily consolidate and develop in the new historic condition. I wish you success in your important work," Hu said. (Yonhap)