Putin to visit N. Korea on June 18-19 - Kremlin

MOSCOW. June 17 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit to North Korea on June 18-19, the Kremlin press service said on Monday.

"At the invitation of Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong Un, Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a friendly state visit to the country on June 18-19, 2024," it said.

Putin has visited North Korea only once, in July 2000, at the beginning of his first presidential term. North Korea was led by Kim Jong Il at that time.

He met with incumbent North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in September 2023, when Kim paid an official visit to Russia and visited Vostochny Cosmodrome together with Putin.

When asked about relations with Pyongyang at last week's meeting with the heads of leading world news agencies, Putin said, "North Korea is our neighbor, and our relations will develop, whether some like it or not."

He also supported North Korea's policy and said that Pyongyang had repeatedly expressed its desire to reach an agreement, including with the United States, while its actions are a response to external threats. "The U.S. unilaterally breached those agreements, and they did so directly, without any shyness. Naturally, the Koreans withdrew from those agreements," Putin said.

He also for the first time called the sanctions on North Korean labor migrants strange. "But will people have to die starving? Not because they are some belligerent citizens, individuals in person, but just citizens of the country, and they are banned from working somewhere, their ability to earn money to feed their families is restricted. Strange, so strange," Putin told the heads of world news agencies.

Putin asked about progress in cooperation with North Korea at a recent meeting with Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Co-chair of the Russian-North Korean Intergovernmental Commission Alexander Kozlov on May 18. Putin asked Kozlov to tell him about the intergovernmental commission's plans and current developments in bilateral relations.