North Korea’s KCNA news agency said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had sent a letter to North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un expressing a wish for the two countries to expand bilateral relations.
The letter was sent on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the liberation of Pyongyang from Japanese occupation.
Putin wrote that he hoped Russia and North Korea would “continue to expand the comprehensive and bilateral relations with common efforts” adding that this would bring stability to the Korean peninsula and strengthen its position on the global stage.
In a reciprocal letter, Kim addressed the friendship between Russia and North Korea, saying that it had been “consolidated and developed” since it was “forged in the anti-Japanese war” – a war that resulted in the 1945 liberation of the Korean peninsula from Japanese occupation.
Kim added that “strategic and tactical cooperation, support and solidarity” between the countries “had been put on a new high stage, in the common front for frustrating the hostile forces’ military threat and provocation”.
The letter did not identify the hostile forces however, the term has generally been used by North Korea to refer to the United States and its allies.
The relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang appears to have grown since 2019 when the leaders of the respective countries met and signed an agreement.
A recent example of the relationship was made explicit when in July, North Korea become one of the few countries to officially recognise the independence of two Russian-backed breakaway territories in eastern Ukraine – a move which saw the Ukrainian government sever relations with North Korea.