SEOUL: Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his willingness to visit soon when he met with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui in Russia last week, North Korea’s official news agency KCNA reported on Sunday.
President Putin also thanked North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un for his invitation to visit, KCNA reported, quoting North Korea’s foreign minister’s assistant office. It would be the Russian leader’s first visit to North Korea in more than twenty years.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said earlier that Moscow hoped a Putin visit to Pyongyang, at Kim’s invitation, would take place soon, but he said no date had yet been finalized.
KCNA’s Korean-language report on Sunday reported President Putin intended to visit soon, but its later English report stated he was “willing” to visit soon.
During Choe’s trip, Russia also thanked North Korea for its support and solidarity in war in Ukraine, KCNA reported.
Russia and North Korea expressed serious concern over provocative action by the United States and its allies against N Korea’s sovereign rights, while agreeing to cooperate in dealing with situation in the region, the report added.
The cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang will be in line with the spirit of the United Nations Charter and other global laws, it maintained.
After taking over power from Boris Yeltsin in 1999, President Putin visited North Korea in July 2000 for a meeting with Kim Jong Il, the father of the current leader of North Korea.
