2024-01-21 04:29:00
The North Korean regime announced that Vladimir Putin is willing to visit Pyongyang “soon.” (REUTERS)
The North Korean regime affirmed this Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his willingness to visit the country in the near future, in response to the invitation of dictator Kim Jong-un during their summit last year.
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According to the North Korean propaganda agency KCNA, Putin would have communicated his wish to Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui during his recent visit to Russia between January 15 and 17.
During the meeting, Choe conveyed Kim’s “warm greetings” to Putin, who thanked Putin for the invitation to visit Pyongyang and expressed his willingness to do so in the near future, according to KCNA.
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“The government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea warmly welcomes President Putin and is ready to receive the closest friend of the Korean people,” Choe said in a statement.
These statements come after Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov stated earlier this week that Moscow expected Putin’s visit to North Korea to take place “in the foreseeable future.”
The head of North Korean diplomacy, Choe Son-hui, stated that her country is “ready to receive” the Russian president, in a new sign of military and economic collaboration between both nations. (REUTERS)
The head of North Korean diplomacy visited Moscow last week to meet with Putin and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and discuss the situation on the Korean Peninsula and bilateral cooperation.
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Russia and North Korea have strengthened ties with a visit by Kim Jong-un to the Russian Far East in September last year, where he met with Putin.
Both countries are subject to international sanctions for their respective nuclear and ballistic programs, and have been accused by the West of supporting each other in the Ukraine crisis.
According to the North Korean Foreign Ministry, Russia showed its “deep gratitude and solidarity with the position of the Russian government and people” in its illegal invasion of Ukrainian territory.
The growing military and economic collaboration between Russia and the dictatorship of Kim Jong-un has raised concerns in the United States and South Korea, who see it as a threat to regional stability.
Washington has denounced that Pyongyang has sent missiles and launchers to Moscow, in what it called a “significant and worrying escalation” of support for the Russian campaign in Ukraine.
Seoul, meanwhile, has accused the North Korean regime of providing more than a million artillery shells in exchange for advice on military satellite technology.
Both countries are subject to international sanctions for their respective nuclear and ballistic programs, and have been accused by the West of supporting each other in the Ukraine crisis. (REUTERS)
On Friday, North Korea tested an “underwater nuclear weapons system” in response to joint naval exercises by Washington, Seoul and Tokyo, involving a US nuclear aircraft carrier.
The North Korean Defense Ministry said that these exercises “constitute a cause of further destabilization of the regional situation and are an act that seriously threatened security,” according to regime propaganda media.
“Its various maritime and submarine response actions will continue to deter hostile military maneuvers by the vessels of the United States and its allies,” he added.
The situation on the Korean Peninsula has worsened in recent months, with both sides abandoning a key agreement to contain tensions, increasing their border security and conducting live-fire drills along the border.
North Korea tested a “submarine nuclear weapons system” in response to joint naval exercises by Washington, Seoul and Tokyo, in which a US nuclear aircraft carrier participated. (Europa Press)
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un last week declared the South his “main enemy” and dissolved government agencies dedicated to promoting cooperation and reunification of the peninsula.
He also threatened war if Seoul violated “even 0.001 millimeters” of its territory.
Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean defector turned analyst at the World Institute for North Korean Studies, said it was “difficult to determine the exact capabilities” of Pyongyang’s suspected undersea nuclear weapons system.
“Considering North Korea’s defense scientific level and the fact that the weapon is still in the development phase, it is not yet at a stage that poses a significant threat,” he said.
In his usual political meeting at the end of the year, Kim threatened with a nuclear attack against the South and called for strengthening his country’s military arsenal in the face of a war that could “break out at any moment.”
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