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\nRussian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday hailed North Korea for \u201cfirmly supporting\u201d Moscow\u2019s war in Ukraine ahead of a visit to Pyongyang set to boost defense ties between the two nuclear-armed countries.
Historic allies since North Korea\u2019s founding after World War II, Moscow and Pyongyang have drawn closer after Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Putin increasingly isolated internationally and looking for friends.
North Korea\u2019s Kim Jong Un made a rare overseas trip on his bulletproof train last September to meet Putin at a Russian spaceport, with Seoul subsequently claiming Pyongyang was shipping arms to Moscow for use in Ukraine, in exchange for Russian satellite know-how.
Putin\u2019s trip has triggered \u201cconcern\u201d in Washington, after the Pentagon said last month debris analysis proved North Korean ballistic missiles were already being fired on Ukraine\u2019s battlefields.
\u201cWe highly appreciate that the DPRK is firmly supporting the special military operations of Russia being conducted in Ukraine,\u201d Putin wrote in an article carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, referring to the North by its official name.
Russia and the North are \u201cnow actively developing the many-sided partnership,\u201d Putin wrote ahead of his arrival later Tuesday in the North, for his first visit since 2000 when he met then-leader Kim Jong Il \u2014 Kim Jong Un\u2019s late father.
The trip will elevate ties to a \u201chigher level\u201d the Russian leader wrote, adding it would help develop \u201cequal cooperation\u201d between the two allies.<\/p>\n