Kim congratulated Putin on turning 72 years old and said that the two nations’ relationship would reach a new height.
Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, ties between Pyongyang and Moscow have intensified, which has alarmed the West.
Kim stated separately on Tuesday that Pyongyang would move more quickly to arm his nation with nuclear weapons, turning it into a military superpower.
Kim lauded the ties between the two nations, saying they had grown “invincible and eternal” since Putin’s visit to Pyongyang in June, according to Yonhap News, which cited North Korean state agency KCNA.
The speaker addressed North Korea officially as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “Meetings and comradely ties between us… will make a positive contribution to further consolidating the eternal foundation of the DPRK-Russia friendship,” he continued.
Russia and North Korea have a long history dating back to Stalin and Kim Il-sung, the current Kim’s grandfather. The Soviet Union assisted North Korea in its early days with weaponry and technology, and Pyongyang has never wanted to wholly rely on China – which it does not fully trust.
Putin and Kim pledged earlier this year to support one another in the case of “aggression” against either nation, but it was not made clear what exactly qualified as aggression.
