North's Kim vows to deepen ties with Vietnam in reply to its leader Lam

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has pledged to deepen his country's ties with Vietnam in a reply to President To Lam, Pyongyang's state media said Tuesday.

Lam sent a letter to Kim on Sept. 9 to mark the 78th anniversary of North Korea's national founding.

"The traditional relations of friendship and cooperation between the two countries, which entered a new development period after our Pyongyang meeting last October, will further expand and develop in the common interests of the two peoples," Kim wrote in his reply sent Monday, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Lam, in his last month's letter, said relations had strengthened steadily since the summit and that both sides had carried out the leaders' agreements. Vietnam, he added, was ready to work with North Korea for regional and global peace and stability.

Ties between the two countries have warmed since Lam's October visit, the first by a top Vietnamese leader to the North in 18 years.

In May, Vietnamese Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung met his North Korean counterpart, Choe Son-hui, in Pyongyang. The following month, the two countries' security ministers held talks there on cooperation in public security and law enforcement.

Yonhap