BEIJING -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president, said on Monday he looks forward to meeting with Kim Jong-un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), to discuss the traditional friendship between the two countries, and exchange views on the overall development of bilateral relations.

Xi made the remarks in a signed article published on Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the DPRK, ahead of his state visit to the country slated for Monday and Tuesday, his first in seven years.

Xi said that China and the DPRK are friendly socialist neighbors who stand by each other and share a common future.

No matter how times change or how the international landscape evolves, the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK remains unbreakable and enduring, constantly demonstrating vigorous vitality, Xi said.

Noting that top-level strategic guidance is the greatest strength of China-DPRK relations, Xi said in recent years, he and Kim have held six meetings, maintaining close strategic communication and jointly drawing up a blueprint for the development of China-DPRK relations.

Xi also said that a shared socialist ideal is a defining feature of China-DPRK relations, and that the traditional friendship between the two countries, rooted in a shared future, forms the solid foundation of bilateral ties.

"High-level strategic coordination gives China-DPRK relations their contemporary significance," Xi said. "Promoting long-term peace and stability in the region, as well as world peace and stability, is a common pursuit of the two parties, the two countries and their peoples."

The two sides firmly support each other in safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests, and work together to uphold regional peace and tranquility, international fairness and justice, and the postwar international order, Xi said.