“I would like to express my warmest congratulations to Comrade General Secretary for his re-election as President of the People’s Republic of China at the First Session of the 14th National People’s Congress of China,” Kim’s statement said.

“The fact that Comrade General Secretary continues to bear the heavy responsibility of the President of the People’s Republic of China is a sign of the high trust and support of the Party, the government and the people of China.”

The 69-year-old president has stacked the ranks of the National People’s Congress and Communist Party with allies, making his election on Friday a formality. On Saturday, former Shanghai party committee secretary Li Qiang was appointed by congress as the nation’s premier, in another move that reinforces Xi’s rule.

Kim expressed pleasure, not only for Xi’s re-election, but for the ever-strengthening allyship between North Korea and the People’s Republic of China.

“We, the Party, the government and the people, are pleased that in recent years the Party, the government and the people of China have united firmly under the umbrella of the General Secretary and have made remarkable achievements in the struggle to build a socialist modernized state,” he wrote.

“I am confident that the Chinese people, under the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, with the General Secretary as the core, will achieve a new victory in the implementation of the tasks set forth by the 20th Congress of the Party. Today, the two parties and the two countries are working closely to defend and advance the common cause of socialism.”

With his re-election, Xi will serve as president for five more years.