• Senior officials from North Korea and China pledge to deepen cooperation citing changes in the international political environment.
• Chinese official Wang Huning visits North Korea to mark the 65th anniversary of the mutual assistance treaty signed by the two countries.
• North Korea and China strengthen unity based on the legal foundation provided by the treaty signed during the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Senior officials from North Korea and China pledged to deepen cooperation during talks in Pyongyang, citing changes in the international political environment, North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported on Thursday.

Jo Yong Won, a member of the presidium of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party politburo, said the evolving global situation had prompted the two countries to strengthen their unity during talks with visiting Chinese official Wang Huning, according to KCNA.

Wang, a member of the standing committee of the Communist Party of China's politburo and a close aide to President Xi Jinping, is in North Korea for a three-day visit marking the 65th anniversary of the mutual assistance treaty signed by the two countries.

According to KCNA, Wang said the treaty had provided the legal foundation for consolidating the "friendship formed at the cost of blood" between the neighbours, which fought together during the 1950-1953 Korean War. North Korea is China's only formal treaty ally.

Chinese state media had not yet reported details of Wang's meeting beyond announcing the trip.

The visit follows Xi's trip to North Korea in June, when he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to open "a new chapter" in bilateral relations.

China remains North Korea's most important trading partner and diplomatic backer.

Kim has significantly expanded North Korea's nuclear weapons programme in recent years and deepened military cooperation with Russia. Since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine in 2022, Pyongyang has supplied ammunition and artillery shells to Moscow and sent up to 15,000 troops to support Russian forces.