In regards to foreign policy, Hua made his first trip abroad in May 1978. This was a visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, where he was given a warm reception and joined North Korean leader Kim Il-sung in calling for the United States to withdraw its troops from the Republic of Korea. In September, Deng Xiaoping also visited the North Korean capital Pyongyang. He was unimpressed with Kim Il-sung's extensive personality cult, having seen enough of this sort of thing in China with Mao and also took umbrage at being expected to lay a wreath in front of the giant gold-plated statue of Kim in Pyongyang. Deng reportedly expressed his displeasure at how the aid money given to North Korea by China over the years was being spent on statues and monuments honoring Kim. He suggested that they might be better served using that aid to improve their people's living standards. The North Koreans appeared to have gotten the message, for the gold plating was quietly scraped off the Kim statue in Pyongyang afterwards.