Putin’s state visit to North Korea: As it happened

Putin has left the DPRK and will next head to Vietnam.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Pyongyang and Moscow “provides for maintaining peace and stability in the region.” It also promotes “the common interests of our two countries, Korea and Russia, and [places] a more reliable foundation for the security situation for the two nations,” he stressed.

The signing of “the strongest and most comprehensive interstate agreement in the history of Russian-Korean friendship” earlier on Wednesday is a “great event,” Kim said during a gala reception in honor of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

During a gala reception in his honor, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a toast “to the further development of friendship and cooperation between Russia and North Korea, the well-being and prosperity of our peoples, and to the health of the head of state affairs, Kim Jong-un, and all of those present here today.” 

A video from Pyongyang has captured thousands of residents of the North Korean capital taking to the streets to greet Russian President Vladimir Putin’s motorcade.

The Russian authorities understand that the US and its allies “will try to hamper and create additional difficulties” in Moscow’s ties with North Korea, but no actions by the West will affect the choice to develop “special” relations with Pyongyang, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has insisted.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has said that following his trip to Pyongyang, he expects North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to make a return visit to Moscow. Putin also thanked the residents of Pyongyang for the warm welcome he received in the North Korean capital.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attend a gala concert in Pyongyang. © Sputnik / Gavriil Grigorov

The newly signed Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership underlines the desire of Russia and North Korea to boost relations in all areas, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov has said.

“This is a framework document, a conceptual one, that sets the tone for bilateral relations, and is probably a very concentrated demonstration of the political will to develop all vectors of bilateral ties,” Peskov told Izvestia newspaper.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have laid flowers at a monument to Soviet soldiers who died during the liberation of Korea from Japan during World War II.

© Sputnik / Gavriil Grigorov

Moscow “categorically rejects” attempts by some countries to blame the deterioration of the international security situation on Pyongyang, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“North Korea has the right to take reasonable steps to strengthen its defense capabilities, ensure national security and protect sovereignty,” he insisted.

Putin stressed that Russia remains ready to make political and diplomatic efforts to eliminate the threat of a new armed conflict on the Korean peninsula and create an architecture of long-term peace and stability based on the principle of common security for the region.

While in Pyongyang, Russian President Vladimir Putin got behind the wheel of a Russian-made Aurus limousine to take Kim Jong-un for a spin around the Kumsusan Palace grounds

Putin gifted Kim an Aurus for his personal use when the North Korean leader visited Russia back in February.