He invited Sihanouk to Pyongyang on more than 40 occasions, meeting him for hundreds of times.

In April Juche 54 (1965) the President met him for the first time in the event to mark the Bandung Conference in Indonesia.

As Sihanouk was living in exile after being ousted from power during a military coup, the President invited him to Pyongyang and gave him warm welcome. During his stay in Pyongyang, Kim Il Sung frequently met and discussed with him the ways for tiding over his trials.

Sihanouk returned home after Cambodia won in the anti-U.S. national resistance. But soon, he exiled himself again after getting a cold reception from the ruling Cambodian forces.

At that time, too, Kim Il Sung gave a helping hand to him, pondering with him over the issue of retaking the legal position in Cambodia. He called Sihanouk his brother as he did before.

He told Sihanouk about the experiences gained in the DPRK in forming the united front, underscoring need to achieve unity among all forces loving the country and the nation.

At meetings with foreign dignitaries, he used to say that Cambodia was represented by Sihanouk and, therefore, Sihanouk was just Cambodia, stressing he always supported Sihanouk.

His invariable support for Sihanouk played an important role in clearing off predudice and misconceptions among many people towards him, leading to creation of international climate favourable to his patriotic activities.

Thereby, Sihanouk flew to Pyongyang first of all to express his heartfelt thanks to Kim Il Sung as head of state of Cambodia when an interim government was established in Cambodia.

Indeed, Kim Il Sung was an incarnation of internationalism, possessed of noble personality, great magnanimity and warm humanity.