Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday hailed North Korea for “firmly supporting” Moscow’s war in Ukraine ahead of a visit to Pyongyang set to boost defense ties between the two nuclear-armed nations.
Putin was scheduled to touch down last night for his first trip to the isolated nation in 24 years, with a confrontation between North and South Korean troops on their shared border highlighting regional security tensions.
Huge banners with a smiling photograph of the Russian leader reading “We ardently welcome President Putin” were hung from lampposts across Pyongyang alongside Russian flags, images in Russian state media showed.
Photo: AFP
Moscow and Pyongyang have been allies since North Korea’s founding after World War II, and have drawn even closer since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to the West isolating Putin internationally.
The US and its allies have accused North Korea of supplying Russia with much-needed arms, including ballistic missiles to use in Ukraine.
North Korea has denied giving Russia military hardware, but, ahead of his trip, Putin thanked North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un’s government for helping the war effort.
“We highly appreciate that the DPRK [North Korea] is firmly supporting the special military operations of Russia being conducted in Ukraine,” Putin wrote in an article published by Pyongyang’s state media yesterday.
Russia and North Korea are “now actively developing the many-sided partnership,” Putin wrote.
Both nations are under rafts of UN sanctions — Pyongyang since 2006 over banned nuclear and ballistic missile programs, and Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine.
Putin praised North Korea for “defending their interests very effectively despite the US economic pressure, provocation, blackmail and military threats that have lasted for decades.”
He also hailed Moscow and Pyongyang for “maintaining the common line and stand at the UN.”
North Korea said the visit showed bilateral ties “are getting stronger day by day,” the Korean Central News Agency reported.
North Korea has described allegations of supplying weapons to Russia as “absurd,” but it did thank Russia for using its UN veto in March to effectively end monitoring of sanctions violations just as UN experts were starting to probe alleged arms transfers.
The US on Monday voiced “concern” about Putin’s trip because of the security implications for South Korea and Ukraine.
The two Koreas have remained technically at war since their 1950 to 1953 conflict, and the border dividing them is one of the most heavily fortified in the world.
“We know North Korean ballistic missiles are still being used to hit Ukrainian targets [and] there could be some reciprocity here that could affect security on the Korean Peninsula,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Highlighting those security concerns, South Korea said its troops fired warning shots at troops from North Korea who briefly crossed the border yesterday and then retreated.
The South Korean military said it believed the North Korean troops accidentally crossed as they were fortifying the border, but said some of them were wounded after detonating landmines.
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