N. Korean delegation visits Laos: KCNA

A North Korean delegation led by a senior official visited Laos and stressed the North's policy of bolstering defense capabilities, the North's state media reported Sunday. Kim Song-nam, director of the international department at the North's ruling Workers' Party of Korea, met Thongsavanh Phomvihane, head of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party's external relations committee, last Friday, according to the report. Laos is the final leg of Kim's three-nation trip that also took him to China and Vietnam. Kim also paid a courtesy visit to Thongloun Sisoulith, the secretary general of the Communist Party of Laos. During the meeting, Kim said North Korea would bolster "comrade-like and strategic" cooperation with Laos, according to the report. Kim's trip appears to be aimed at strengthening North Korea's ties with countries sharing the socialist ideology after South Korea established diplomatic relations with Cuba last month. Pyongyang has long boasted brotherly ties with Cuba. Source: Yonhap News Agency