MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during an official visit to Pyongyang, the Russian parliament said on Thursday.
Volodin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, conveyed greetings from the Russian leader and thanked Kim for North Korea’s support of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
Putin held a phone call with Kim on Tuesday and updated him on planned talks with U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday.
Kim sent a reply to a letter from Putin that was delivered by Volodin to celebrate the 80th anniversary of liberation from Japan’s colonial rule, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA reported on Friday.
In the letter to Putin, Kim said the soldiers of North Korea and Russia formed “friendship and unity” in the battlefield to fight against “a mutual enemy” which he didn’t identify, according to KCNA.
Pyongyang and Moscow have both confirmed the deployment of North Korean troops to support Russia’s offensive against Ukraine to reclaim the Kursk region.
South Korea’s intelligence agency said in June that North Korea was potentially ready to send more troops to Russia.
(Reporting by Maxim Rodionov and additional reporting by Heejin Kim in SeoulEditing by Alexandra Hudson and Ed Davies)
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