North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, and Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong raise their hands during a state banquet in Hanoi, in this March 1, 2019 photo. EPA-Yonhap

The leaders of North Korea and Vietnam have exchanged messages of greetings to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two leaders while declaring 2025 as a year of friendship, Pyongyang's state media reported Friday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent his warm celebrations in a message to Vietnamese President Luong Cuong on the occasion of the anniversary of the diplomatic relationship that was forged on Jan. 31, 1950, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Declaring this year as a year of friendship, Kim voiced hope that the bilateral relations will "steadily develop."

"This conforms to the common aspiration and desire of the peoples of the two countries to develop the friendly and cooperative relations which were forged and consolidated in the joint struggle for socialism onto a new, higher stage," the North's leader said.

In a message to Kim the KCNA carried, the Vietnamese leader said their traditional relations had been "cultivated by the leaders of several generations of the two countries with much effort," including former Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh and the North's state founder Kim Il-sung.

Cuong said both sides will celebrate a year of friendship "jointly and successfully through significant exchanges and cooperative activities."

After forging diplomatic relations in 1950, North Korea and Vietnam maintained close communist ties for over decades. But their relationship turned frosty due largely to Vietnam's establishment of diplomatic ties with South Korea in 1992.

The bilateral relations began improving in the 2000s and were fully normalized on the occasion of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's trip to Hanoi in February 2019 for his summit with then U.S. President Donald Trump. (Yonhap)