North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent a message of greetings to Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of New Year's Day, calling the two countries' relations a "precious common asset," the North's state media said on Saturday. In the message, Kim described this year as a 'meaningful' one when the two countries 'steadily wrote a great biography of the alliance' through "full mutual support and selfless encouragement," according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Kim's greeting came after Putin himself sent a New Year's message to the North Korean leader on December 18. "I think that today's DPRK-Russia alliance ... is a precious common asset to be carried forward forever not only in the present era but also by posterity generation after generation," Kim said, using the acronym of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Kim said the North-Russia relations have been further consolidated into the "sincerest alliance of sharing blood, life and death in the same trench," as he referred to the North's troop deployment to Russia to support the war with Ukraine, Yonhap news agency reported.
"Now no one can break the relations between the peoples of the two countries and their unity, supported firmly by embodiment of the strong will and strength to defend the just aspirations of the times and set right history," he said. Earlier on December 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin had sent a message of greeting to mark New Year's Day to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, hailing the North's 'heroic' dispatch of troops in Russia's war against Ukraine.
North Korea and Russia have been deepening their military cooperation since Putin and Kim signed a "comprehensive strategic partnership" treaty during their summit in Pyongyang in June 2024. Since last year, the North has sent around 15,000 combat troops to support Moscow's war against Ukraine.