Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized the importance of the "traditional friendship" with North Korea in a message delivered on the third anniversary of the death of the North's former leader Kim Jong-il, according to China's state media on Thursday. 
   
The message by Xi was conveyed by Liu Yunshan, who ranks fifth in China's ruling Communist Party hierarchy, to the North Korean ambassador to China, Ji Jae-ryong, on Wednesday when Liu visited the North Korean embassy in Beijing and paid his respects to the North's late leader, China's Xinhua news agency reported. 
  
Liu told Ji that Xi "places great importance on the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK (North Korea) and is ready to work with the DPRK to maintain, consolidate and develop the traditional friendship," Xinhua reported on Wednesday night. 
   
In return, Ji "expressed readiness to work with Chinese comrades to advance friendly relations between DPRK and China," the report said. 
   
The visit by Liu to the Wednesday memorial in Beijing came as North Korea marked the end of a three-year mourning period for Kim, setting the stage for his son and current leader Kim Jong-un to further consolidate his own dynastic rule.
  

Liu's tribute to the late North Korean leader, announced by China's foreign ministry on Wednesday, also appeared to be a gesture to warm political ties between the two nations. 
   
Political ties between China and its only treaty ally, North Korea, remain strained, particularly after the North's third nuclear test in February 2013. 
   
However, few analysts believe that China will exert enough pressure on the North to give up its nuclear weapons because it could lead to the collapse of the North's regime and hurt China's national interests. (Yonhap)