Vietnam will build its first memorial honoring North Korean troops who died during the Vietnam War and restore an existing cemetery for the DPRK’s war dead, underscoring renewed efforts by the two countries to strengthen their decades-long friendship.

The plans were announced after a meeting on Monday, in which delegations led by Vietnamese Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Truong Thang and DPRK Ambassador Ri Sung Guk discussed the construction of the memorial and the renovation of the North Korean Martyrs’ Cemetery, according to Quan Doi Nhan Dan, the official newspaper of Hanoi’s Ministry of National Defence.

The memorial will be