Premier Li Qiang will lead a Party and government delegation to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to attend the 80th anniversary celebrations of the Workers' Party of Korea and to pay an official goodwill visit from Thursday to Saturday.

China stands ready to work with the DPRK during this visit to enhance strategic communication, strengthen exchanges and cooperation and advance bilateral traditional friendship and cooperative ties, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in an online statement on Tuesday.

This year marks the 80th?anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea.

The spokesperson stressed that Beijing and Pyongyang share a long history as traditional friends and neighbors, and underscored that maintaining, consolidating and developing China-DPRK relations remains an unswerving strategic policy of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government.