“I am confident that, working together, we will continue to steadily strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership between the Russian Federation and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Putin said in a telegram marking the opening ceremony in Pyongyang of a memorial complex and museum dedicated to the heroes of overseas military operations.
Putin also said that Pyongyang came to Russia’s aid swiftly and without hesitation when part of the Kursk region came under the occupation of Ukrainian forces.
The Russian leader recalled what he described as the proud history of military brotherhood between the two countries.
“In the final stage of the Second World War, Soviet troops, together with Korean patriots, liberated your country from Japanese colonial rule, and in the 1950s helped defend the independence of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in its struggle against foreign intervention,” he said.
“In our own time, when part of the Kursk region came under hostile occupation, Pyongyang, in turn, resolutely and without hesitation came to our aid,” Putin added.