SEOUL – Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his willingness to visit Pyongyang soon when he met North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui in Russia last week, state news agency KCNA reported on Jan 21.

Mr Putin also thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for his invitation to visit the country, KCNA said, citing Ms Choe’s office.

It would be the Russian leader’s first trip to North Korea in more than two decades.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Jan 15 that Russia hoped that a visit by Mr Putin visit to North Korea, at Mr Kim’s invitation, would take place “in the foreseeable future”, but added that no date had yet been agreed.

KCNA’s Korean-language report on Jan 21 suggested that Mr Putin intended to visit soon, but its later English report said he was “willing” to do so at an early date.

During Ms Choe’s visit, Russia thanked North Korea for its support and solidarity in Moscow’s Ukraine military operation, KCNA said.

Moscow and Pyongyang also expressed serious concern over provocative acts by the United States and its allies against North Korea’s sovereign rights, while agreeing to cooperate in dealing with the regional situation, the report said.

The cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow will be in line with the spirit of the United Nations Charter and other international laws, it added.

After taking over from Mr Boris Yeltsin in 1999, Mr Putin visited Pyongyang in July 2000 for a meeting with Mr Kim Jong Il, the father of Mr Kim Jong Un.

The Russian President accepted Mr Kim’s invitation when they met in Russia for a summit in September 2023, Mr Peskov said previously.

Mr Kim and Mr Putin’s growing ties in recent years have worried the United States and its allies, which have condemned arms trade between the two countries as a violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

Pyongyang’s transfer of ballistic missiles and other weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine, and its continued development of nuclear and ballistic missile programmes demand attention and coordinated action, Dr Jung Pak, US senior official for North Korea, said at a meeting with the nuclear envoys of South Korea and Japan in Seoul on Jan 18. REUTERS