According to state media, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un congratulated Vladimir Putin on Monday, saying that Russian people had demonstrated “unshakeable support” for their re-elected president.
“Your re-election to the heavy responsibility of the head of state is the Russian people’s valuable estimate of the outstanding leadership and tenacious executive ability you displayed in state activities with high prestige as the leader of the nation,” Kim said, as reported by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The “unshakeable support and trust” that Russian voters have for the Russian leader was demonstrated by Putin’s triumph, he continued.
Historical friends North Korea and Russia are both subject to a number of international sanctions: Pyongyang for its nuclear weapons tests and Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
The US accused Pyongyang of starting to supply Moscow with weapons after their conference in the far east of Russia in September.
During the visit, Kim stated that Pyongyang’s backing for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine was the “number one priority” for his country, and Pyongyang agreed.
According to South Korea’s defence minister on Monday, North Korea has sent some 7,000 containers full of weapons to Russia for use in its conflict with Ukraine since the transfers started in July of last year.
“I am firmly convinced that, under your energetic and correct guidance, the Russian people will surely win victory in the cause of reliably defending the sovereignty and security of the country,” Kim wrote in his statement to KCNA.
Over 87 percent of voters cast ballots in a three-day election that Western powers denounced as fraudulent.