Beijing pleased at DPRK-Russia exchanges

Beijing said on Wednesday it is pleased to see strengthened high-level exchanges and cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow, as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's top leader Kim Jong-un arrived in Russia for his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Such interactions help further ties between the DPRK and Russia as well as peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a daily news conference.

"We wish the meeting between the leaders of the DPRK and Russia will be a success and will help resolve the Korean Peninsula issue," Geng said. Kim and Putin will meet on Thursday.

China and Russia have always been in close touch with each other over the issue, and have worked together and invested a great deal of effort in maintaining peace and stability in the peninsula, Geng said.

The two countries also formulated a roadmap for resolving the issue in a political way, Geng said, referring to a joint statement the two countries issued in July 2017.

China hopes to work with all related parties, including Russia, to continue to promote the peninsula's denuclearization and the process of a political solution by seeking a package solution and implementing it in a phased and synchronized way, Geng said.