N. Korean cadres visit China to learn about Chinese economy

BEIJING, Oct. 19 Kyodo - North Korea has sent a delegation of local cadres to China to learn about the Chinese model of economic development, China's Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday.
''We will study and learn the successful experiences from China and make
efforts to support the growth of the friendly ties between the two nations,''
Mun Kyong Dok, head of the delegation, was quoted by Xinhua as telling Zhou
Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the
Communist Party of China, during a meeting after their arrival.
The delegation of provincial and municipal chief secretaries, which arrived in
Beijing by air Saturday, was being dispatched by the ruling Workers' Party of
Korea.
''It is the first time that the secretaries from all the WPK provincial and
municipal committees have visited China, which by itself highlights the
significance that the DPRK and its WPK attach to promoting China-DPRK
relations,'' Xinhua quoted Zhou as telling Mun, chief secretary of the party's
Pyongyang Municipal Committee and an alternate member of the party's Political
Bureau.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's
official name.
North Korea has rarely sent a delegation consisting exclusively of local party
chiefs to China.
When North Korean leader Kim Jong Il visited China in May, he was accompanied
by two local party chiefs, and three local party chiefs traveled with Kim to
China in August.
On Tuesday, the delegation held separate talks with Zhou and Wang Jiarui, head
of the CPC's International Department.
Zhou visited North Korea earlier this month and met with Kim Jong Il and his
heir apparent Jong Un at events linked to the 65th anniversary of the founding
of the Workers' Party of Korea on Oct. 10.