North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has lauded North Korea's rapidly developing relations with Moscow during a meeting with Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu in Pyongyang on Friday.
The two hailed deepening ties on the political, economic, cultural, and security fronts. This as Washington has long accused North Korea of supplying Russia's armed forces for the war in Ukraine, especially with alleged train-loads of hundreds of thousands of vital mortar shells.
"Comrade Kim Jong Un stated that, in line with agreements reached at a summit in Pyongyang in June, relations between the two countries have been developing rapidly in various spheres, including politics, economy and culture," state-run Voice of Korea said.
"He gave his assurances that the North Korean government will continue to expand cooperation with Russia in the spirit of a comprehensive strategic partnership," the broadcaster continued.
Shoigu conveyed greetings from President Putin, with the two sides vowing to deepen strategic dialogue toward the protection of key security interests. The Russian side said the following:
"As part of the ongoing strategic dialogue between our countries, a substantive exchange of views took place with Korean colleagues on a wide range of issues on the bilateral and international agenda," state news agency RIA quoted the Security Council as saying.
It said the meetings took place in an "exceptionally trusting, friendly atmosphere" and would make an important contribution to the implementation of agreements reached between Putin and Kim at their summit three months ago.
Importantly, Kim extended wishes of "winning a victory, wealth" to the Russian people at a moment the war in Ukraine is more than two-and-a-half years in. Currently Moscow is also in a showdown with NATO, warning the Western alliance that it risks direct war if it approves Ukraine using long-range arms to attack Russian territory.
Pyongyang has been engaged in a showdown with Washington of its own of late, with Kim calling for exponential development of the country's nuclear arsenal due to the the "reckless expansion" the United States-led military bloc in the region.
Kim has been outraged over a new US-South Korean defense agreement signed in July. The new agreement allows for the integration of US nuclear weapons and South Korean conventional weapons to defend the peninsula from the nuclear-armed north if need be.
