Kim Jong Un met with Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of Russia’s lower house, the State Duma, during Volodin’s visit to North Korea for a ceremony marking the completion of a memorial honoring troops deployed to Kursk.
The Russian Embassy in North Korea said on Telegram, and Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported, that Kim met Volodin in Pyongyang on Saturday.
Volodin delivered greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin and a message congratulating Kim on his reappointment as chairman of the State Affairs Commission.
Volodin expressed gratitude for the deployment of North Korean troops, saying they fought alongside Russian forces and “liberated Russian territory from Ukrainian Nazis.”
“The Russian people will never forget the dedication of the North Korean soldiers who gave their lives for the freedom of their homeland,” he said, calling it “the true image of comrades-in-arms.”
Volodin also said the close bond between Kim and Putin became “the decisive key to building the future in the most difficult time.”
The embassy said Volodin arrived Friday, on Putin’s instructions, to attend the opening of a combat merit memorial tied to the first anniversary of the end of the “Kursk liberation operation.”
North Korea and Russia appear to be using the ceremony to highlight military cooperation through a series of high-level exchanges.
Separately, the embassy said Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov arrived in North Korea on Saturday for a working visit. North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang Chol met him at the airport.
Belousov is expected to hold talks with North Korean leaders in Pyongyang and attend commemorative events.
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.