North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Monday affirmed his willingness to strive for “closer strategic cooperation” between North Korea and Russia, and hold hands firmly with Russian President Vladimir Putin to “build a powerful country,” the North’s state media reported.
In his congratulatory message to Putin on the occasion of Russia’s National Day, Kim said, “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,” according to the 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.
He noted that the North Korean people 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.” Pyongyang has been stepping up its close ties with Russia despite international condemnation toward Moscow over the Ukrainian war.
Source: Kuwait News Agency