A delegation of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), led by Kim Song-nam, director of the party's International Department, returned home Saturday after an official visit to China that included a tour of the Communist Party of China's Central Party School.

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Officials from a North Korean Workers' Party delegation and China's Central Party School attend a meeting. /Courtesy of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee

According to Beijing-based sources familiar with relations between the two countries Sunday, the WPK delegation, headed by Kim, departed China the previous day after completing its five-day official visit.

The delegation was welcomed at Pyongyang International Airport by An Hyon-min, vice department director of the WPK Central Committee, and Wang Yajun, China's ambassador to North Korea. Before its departure from Beijing, the delegation was seen off by Liu Haixing, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and Ri Ryong-nam, North Korea's ambassador to China.

According to the sources, the delegation made a notable visit to the CPC Central Party School during its stay.

The Central Party School is widely known as a training institution for senior CPC officials and a think tank. It provides education for senior party leaders and mid-level officials on party ideology, policies and governing philosophy.

Accompanied by Sun Haiyan, deputy head of the CPC International Department, the delegation toured the school's facilities while receiving a briefing on how the institution contributes to socialist development by upholding the party's ideology and political line, advancing theoretical innovation and training leading officials. 

During their stay, the delegates also visited several sites in Shanghai and Qingdao, Shandong Province, including the Shanghai People's City Practice Exhibition Hall, the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center and Haier Group's Ecological Experience Center, the sources said.

Kim's visit is seen as part of efforts to implement agreements reached during the June 8–9 summit in Pyongyang between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, while seeking to expand exchanges and cooperation between the two ruling parties.

Kim, who oversees the WPK's external relations, arrived in China on Nov. 3 at the invitation of the CPC Central Committee, just 10 days after Kim Jong-un made a surprise visit to Dandong, Liaoning Province, on Oct. 24.

During his visit, Kim held a series of meetings with senior Chinese officials, reaffirming both sides' commitment to deepening and developing relations between the two countries and their ruling parties.

On Nov. 5, he met Wang Yi, a member of the CPC Central Committee's Political Bureau and China's foreign minister, who also serves as director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs.

The following day, Kim met Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee's Political Bureau and the CPC Central Committee Secretariat, who ranks fifth in China's party leadership hierarchy. He also held talks with Liu Haixing, head of the CPC International Department. 

According to the sources, a delegation from China's Central Party School, led by Executive Vice President Xie Chuntao, also visited North Korea from Nov. 2 to 4 before returning home.

The reciprocal visits appear to underscore the prospect of more frequent party-to-party exchanges between North Korea and China in the coming years.

                                                                                                           Hong Soon-do