INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit North Korea this week, the Kremlin announced Monday, confirming previously reported travel plans
Tuesday, his second trip to the isolated country since he first came to power 24 years ago
North Korea's Kim Jong Un on a rare foreign trip to the Russian Far East, where the pair lavished each other with praise."President Vladimir
Putin on June 18-19 will go to the North Korean Democratic Republic on a friendly state visit," the Kremlin said in a statement on
use in Ukraine, in violation of UN sanctions that ban trade in North Korean weapons.Washington and Seoul say Russia has reciprocated by
providing Pyongyang with technical help for its satellite program and sending aid to the food-deprived country.Putin has scaled down his
trips abroad since launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but has paid some high-profile visits to Moscow's few key allies, including
a two-day trip to China in May.Pyongyang is isolated diplomatically and rarely hosts foreign guests
The country has further closed itself off since the Covid-19 pandemic.Russia and North Korea, which share a short land border, have historic
links, with the Soviet Union having helped found the tiny state after the Korean War in the 1950s.Since the fall of the U.S.S.R., Russia has
been one of the few countries to maintain working relations with Pyongyang.
