Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent a congratulatory message to Kim Jong-un for the 75th founding anniversary of North Korea’s ruling Workers' Party of Korea on Saturday, and called for increased cooperation between the two countries.

In his message, Xi said China and North Korea were friendly neighbors linked by the same mountain and river, and were both socialist countries led by communist parties.

Xi said he has had several meetings with Kim in recent years and they have struck a common understanding over the consolidation and improvement of relations between the two sides. He also said international and regional situations have become complicated and serious, amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

China intends to further develop relations with North Korea to provide greater happiness to the citizens of both countries, and make new and active contributions to achieving peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region, Xi said.

North Korea’s Korean Central Television broadcasted a military parade at 7 p.m. local time. It was attended by Kim, but the date of the parade was not mentioned.

Kim said there were no cases of COVID-19 in North Korea. As soldiers marched, no officials or citizens present wore face masks, but there appeared to be fewer citizens present than usual.

Meanwhile, a BBC report on North Korea’s ruling party’s founding anniversary mistakenly used clips from Taiwan’s National Day celebrations, also known as Double Ten Day. BBC apologized for the error and made a correction.

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