Russia’s Putin to visit North Korea for the first time in 24 years
Al Jazeera
Russian president to embark on state visit on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Kremlin says.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit North Korea this week for the first time in 24 years, the two countries say, a rare trip that underscores Moscow’s burgeoning partnership with the nuclear-armed state.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un extended an invitation to Putin when Kim visited Russia’s Far East in September.
“At the invitation of the Chairman of State Affairs of the DPRK, Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin will pay a friendly state visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on June 18-19,” the Kremlin said on Monday.
North Korea’s state news agency, KCNA, also announced the visit but offered no further details.
Putin last visited Pyongyang in July 2000, four months after he was first elected president. He met with Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, who ruled the country then.
