North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a message to pro-North Korean residents in Japan encouraging them to continue friendly relations with Japan and make sure to be safe from the coronavirus, state media said Sunday.

"All the branches should ... create an external environment favorable for the existence and development of the community of the Koreans resident in Japan by taking the initiative in conducting activities for friendship with the Japanese people," Kim said in the letter released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim also urged members of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or Chongryon, to put forth all efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Chongyron is closely linked to Pyongyang and is considered the North's de facto embassy in Tokyo.

"In particular, they should make the perfect preparations more perfect and devote themselves lest a single family of the compatriots would suffer from the heartbreaking pain due to the malignant infectious disease sweeping the world," he said.

He then called on members to launch a "vigorous struggle" to encourage their children to enjoy using the Korean language and preserve traditions, saying they "should not spare time and efforts to bring up the children of the Korean compatriots into pillars, who will carry forward the baton of Chongryon and patriotism."

"They should build all the branches into durable bases for maintaining the national identity," it added. (Yonhap)