North Korea reiterates support for Russian leader Putin

ISTANBUL

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Monday extended support to Russian President Vladimir Putin to mark the Russian national day.

“Thanks to the correct decision and guidance of the Russian president, the struggle of the Russian people to foil the hostile forces’ escalating threats and challenges to deprive Russia of its sovereignty, security, and peaceful life has entered a new decisive phase,” Kim said in his message to Putin, according to state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“Justice is sure to win, and the Russian people will continue to add glory to the history of victory, the tradition peculiar to them,” Kim stressed.

The message is an apparent reference to Moscow’s war on Ukraine since last year, even though Kim did not mention the year-long battle.

Kim said the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea, “are extending full support and solidarity to the Russian people in their all-out struggle for implementing the sacred cause to preserve the sovereign rights, development, and interests of their country against the imperialists’ high-handed and arbitrary practices and to realize the international justice.”

“It is the fixed stand of the DPRK government to ceaselessly develop good neighborly and cooperative relations, as required by the new era,” added Kim.

The North Korean leader affirmed his “willingness to strive for closer strategic cooperation” between Pyongyang and Moscow.