Russia’s Putin, North Korea's Kim vow closer ties
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have pledged closer cooperation between the two countries as they exchanged letters marking North Korea's National Liberation Day.
"I am sure that we will continue to build up bilateral cooperation in all areas for the benefit of our peoples, in the interests of strengthening stability and security on the Korean Peninsula and in the Northeast Asian region as a whole," Putin declared in a congratulatory message to Kim released by the Kremlin on Tuesday.
Putin further noted that groundwork was laid for close cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang during Korea's liberation from Japan and "harsh wartime."
In his letter to Putin, Kim stated for this part that the two countries' friendship was forged in World War II with victory over Japan and is now "fully demonstrating their invincibility and might in the struggle to smash the imperialists' arbitrary practices and hegemony," Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
He pledged to develop Moscow-Pyongyang ties into “a long-standing strategic relationship.”
"I am firmly convinced that the friendship and solidarity ... will be further developed into a long-standing strategic relationship in conformity with the demand of the new era," Kim was quoted as saying in the letter.
"The two countries will always emerge victorious, strongly supporting and cooperating with each other in the course of achieving their common goal and cause," he further emphasized.
Moscow and Pyongyang have further enhanced ties since the start of the war in Ukraine last year.
Kim has described the war in Ukraine as a US "proxy war" to destroy Russia. He has condemned Western military aid to Kiev and blamed the “hegemonic policy” and “high-handedness” of the United States and the West for the conflict.
Russia began what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Moscow said the operation was aimed at defending Ukraine's pro-Russia population in Donetsk and Luhansk, eastern Ukrainian regions, against persecution by Kiev.
Moscow has frequently warned that a continued supply of Western arms and military equipment for the Ukrainian military would only prolong the war.
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