Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Pyongyang this week. North Korea’s Central News Agency announced Putin’s plan to pay a state visit to Pyongyang amid concerns that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will seek to cement the bilateral military partnership with security implications on the Korean Peninsula and beyond.
A US State Department spokesperson yesterday described deepening military cooperation between North Korea and Russia as a trend of great concern.
This will be Putin’s first trip to North Korea in 24 years. He first visited Pyongyang in July 2000, months after his first election when he met with Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, who ruled the country then.
