On the occasion of the 110th birthday of the late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, Chinese Ambassador to North Korea Liu Xiaoming and other diplomats paid homage to the statue of late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in Hamuhung on Wednesday.

"In front of the statue, we deeply feel the friendship North Korean people have shown to Premier Zhou and to the Chinese people," Liu said.

The ambassador also stressed the need to cherish the legacy handed down by revolutionaries of the elder generation of China and North Korea and to carry forward the Sino-North Korea friendship generation after generation.

The 4.8 meter-high statue is the only one built for foreign leaders in North Korea. It was built in a fertilizer factory in Hamuhung in 1979 to commemorate Premier Zhou's great achievement for the friendship between the two countries.

Over 200 people, including the Chinese diplomats, overseas Chinese people and local citizens, attended the ceremony. "Premier Zhou is the most respected foreign leaders in the hearts of Korean people," one of local citizens told reporters.

Zhou, born in 1898, was one of the key leaders of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) leading China's revolution as well as one of the founders of the People's Republic of China and the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2008)