Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping believes his country’s friendship with North Korea will extend far into the future as “socialist nations” united under “common ideals, convictions and aspirations.”

Xi met with Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, the first sit-down between the two world leaders in approximately six years. It was a major victory for Kim, who has seen his nation’s global profile surge due to cooperation with Russia in the invasion of Ukraine.