Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Pyongyang was "successful" and "fruitful", a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) told the press in Beijing on Sunday.

Hu, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, returned to Beijing on Sunday morning after an official goodwill visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

During Hu's visit, he had held talks with Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the DPRK's National Defense Commission.

The two leaders set directions for the development of bilateral ties through their meetings and discussions, said Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee.

Wang, who accompanied Hu on the visit, said the two leaders reviewed the development of China-DPRK relations over the past 56 years and agreed that the China-DPRK friendship, which was cultivated by previous generations of leaders, is the common wealth of the two nations, two parties and two peoples.

They agreed that the two sides should continue to deepen and develop their traditional friendship, and further promote the friendly and cooperative China-DPRK ties, which is the unswerving policy of the two countries and their common responsibility, Wang said.

Wang said Hu and Kim also agreed to keep high-level contacts, expand cooperation and exchanges, promote economic and trade cooperation for common development and improve coordination and cooperation to safeguard common interests.

On the Korean nuclear issue, Wang said the two leaders reiterated that they would continue to push for a peaceful solution through dialogue.

Wang quoted Hu as saying that the last round of six-party talks - involving China, the DPRK, South Korea, the United States, Russia and Japan - had achieved substantial progress.

He said Hu emphasized that China upholds the objective of building a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, resolving the problem through dialogue and safeguarding peace and stability in the area.

Hu also said China would work together with the DPRK and all other parties concerned to implement the general objective stated in the Joint Statement and help achieve new progress in the next round of talks, according to Wang.

Wang said Kim highly appreciated China's dedication to promoting peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and its major contributions to this effect.

The DPRK is committed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and its position of peacefully resolving the nuclear issue through dialogue, Wang quoted Kim as saying.

According to Wang, the DPRK leader said his country held that the Joint Statement issued at the last round of talks in Beijing was positive and a hard-won result, and the DPRK will attend the fifth round of talks as scheduled.

On bilateral economic and trade cooperation, Wang said both China and the DPRK were satisfied with economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

Hu said China would continue to encourage Chinese companies to engage with DPRK enterprises and expand the scale of trade cooperation under the principle of mutual benefit and common development.

During the visit, an agreement on economic and trade cooperation was signed.

Wang said the two leaders also briefed each other on their own countries' political, economic and social development.

He said Hu spoke highly of the recent achievements that the DPRK had made in building a strong socialist country, developing external relations and realizing national independence, peace and reunification under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea. Hu said China firmly supported the DPRK people in exploring a path of development suitable to their own domestic situation.

"The DPRK is likely to reap an agricultural harvest this year," Wang said, adding that its efforts in grain seed breeding and fine strain experiment have paid off. However, the DPRK is still facing some difficulties, especially in power supply and transportation. "I believe the people of the DPRK will overcome these difficulties and achieve positive results under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea with Kim Jong Il as general secretary," he said.

Kim also congratulated China on its achievements in building the socialist country with Chinese characteristics, Wang said.

They agreed that China and DPRK are confronted with the common tasks of developing the economy and improving people's living standards. Therefore, maintaining regular exchanges and learning from each other would help the two countries speed up the development of socialist construction, according to Wang.

During his stay in Pyongyang, Hu also met with Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the DPRK's Supreme People's Assembly.

Hu also visited the newly established Tae-an Friendship Glass Factory, which was built with aid from China. The factory, considered "a symbol of the DPRK-China friendship," has a designed daily production capacity of 300 tons of float-processed glass.

This is Hu's first visit to Pyongyang as Chinese president. Kim Jong Il visited Beijing in 2000, 2001 and 2004.

(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2005)