Russia: Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to arrive in North Korea later on Tuesday, marking his first visit in 24 years and highlighting the growing relationship between the two nuclear-armed nations.
During his September visit to the east of Russia, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un invited Putin to the first meeting between the two men since 2019.
“At the invitation of the Chairman of State Affairs of the DPRK, Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin will pay a friendly state visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on June 18-19,” the Kremlin said on Monday, using North Korea’s official name.
The visit was also confirmed by North Korea’s official news agency, KCNA, but no other information was provided.
Four months after his initial election as president, in July 2000, Putin made his last trip to Pyongyang. He got to know Kim Jong Il, the father of the nation’s leader at the time.
In a letter that appeared in the Workers’ Party of North Korea’s official newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, on Tuesday, Putin stated that the two nations had built strong ties and collaborations during the previous 70 years on the principles of equality, respect, and trust.
“We will develop alternative mechanisms of trade and mutual settlements that are not controlled by the West, and jointly resist illegitimate unilateral restrictions. And at the same time – we will build an architecture of equal and indivisible security in Eurasia,” Putin wrote.
He thanked North Korea for supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine and promised to support Pyongyang to defend its interests against what he called “US pressure, blackmail and military threats.”
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