N. Korea's Kim pays tribute at tombs of fallen Chinese soldiers ahead of key anniversary

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un rearranges the ribbons of a flower basket at the Chinese people's volunteers cemetery in Hoechang County, South Pyongan Province, where he paid tribute to Chinese soldiers who died fighting for the North in the Korean War, Friday, in this Korean Central News Agency photo released the following day. Yonhap

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has paid tribute at a cemetery for Chinese soldiers who died fighting for the North during the Korean War, as the countries marked the anniversary of China's entry into the war, state media reported Saturday.

Kim "visited the Cemetery of the Fallen Soldiers of the Chinese People's Volunteers in Hoechang County, South Pyongan Province and paid a high tribute to them" the previous day, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

On Saturday, North Korea and China commemorate the 75th anniversary of Chinese troops' entry into the 1950-53 Korean War to aid the North. The countries observe the anniversary, Oct. 25, the day Chinese troops scored their first military victory in the war in 1950.

Kim paid a silent tribute in memory of the fallen soldiers and visited the grave of Mao Anying at the cemetery, a Chinese military officer and the eldest son of Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Republic of China, where he placed flowers and paid homage, according to the KCNA.

The news agency said the faces of the fallen soldiers, who assisted North Korea's revolutionary war at the cost of their blood, "remain deep in the hearts of the peoples of the two countries as a symbol of valuable DPRK-China friendship."

DPRK refers to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

North Korea will never forget the blood shed by the Chinese soldiers, the KCNA said.

"The DPRK-China friendship forged at the cost of blood would powerfully demonstrate its inexhaustible vitality in the sacred struggle to realize the cause of independence against imperialism, the socialist cause, in the future, too," it added.

Kim last visited the Hoechang cemetery in 2020 ahead of the 70th anniversary. The cemetery was established at the site where China operated the command of "volunteer" forces during the Korean War.