Putin’s state visit to North Korea: As it happened
Russian President Vladimir Putin is on a state visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and has held comprehensive talks with the country's leadership on economic and security cooperation, along with global issues.
Kim Jong-un personally greeted Putin upon his arrival at Pyongyang airport early on Wednesday, and the two leaders held face-to-face talks on “the most important, the most sensitive issues” after an official welcoming ceremony.
Russia and North Korea signed a number of bilateral documents, including a landmark Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement.
This live stream has ended.
19 June 2024
17:16 GMTPutin has left the DPRK and will next head to Vietnam.
- 14:02 GMT
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.
- 13:57 GMT
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.”
- 13:14 GMT
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.
- 12:48 GMT
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.
- 12:07 GMT
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.
- 11:45 GMT
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.
- 11:37 GMT
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.
