On October 31, Ma Xuming, Deputy Secretary of Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Yichang, met Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Hyung Jun and other officials of North Korea.

　　Ma Xuming introduced Yichang to the guests. He mentioned that Yichang, with a long history of more than 2400 years, is the hometown of Qu Yuan and Wang Zhaojun, the former was a historical and cultural celebrity of China and the latter was a messenger of peace in the Han Dynasty. Yichang City has rich tourism resources with three 5A-class scenic spots and twelve 4A-class ones; it also has solid industrial foundation with GDP growth and comprehensive strength ranking No.1 and No.2 respectively in Hubei. Meanwhile, the City is the capital of hydropower in the world, the generating center of China and the only National Model City in Hubei Province. At present, a modern metropolis with strong ecolomy and excellent environment is being constructed. the City Proper is to cover an area of 200 square kilometers with a population of 2000,000 by 2016. Based on close friendship between China and North Korea, both sides are responsible for carrying forward the friendship. Mr. Ma also hopes that bilateral relations of communication and cooperation are to be deepened in the field of economy, culture and tourism in future.

　　Kim said that since he came to Yichang, Hubei, he deeply felt the friendship of Chinese people to Korean people. Many years ago, two Korea leaders, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il came to Yichang when they visited China, and he knew that Yichang, is known as a land of attractive resources and a birthplace of gifted talents, is the location of the world-famous Three Gorges Project, all of which make him feel happy and lucky to visit Yichang, so he hopes to know more development of the city and enhance the communication and cooperation between the two sides. (Reporter Zheng Guanghua)