N Korea's Kim calls Putin 'closest comrade'Kim (R) and Putin (L) toasted their friendship when they met in North Korea in JuneSeparately on Tuesday, Kim said Pyongyang would speed up steps to make his country a military super power with nuclear weapons. Kim, congratulating Putin on his 72nd birthday, added that relations between both countries would be raised to a new level. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent a birthday message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling him his "closest comrade". The relationship between North Korea and Russia goes back decades - to Stalin and Kim Il-sung, the current Kim's grandfather. North Korea certainly can benefit enormously from access to Russian military technology – which despite Russia’s problems is still far more advanced than North Korea’s homegrown and reverse-engineered systems.

Source: The North Africa Journal October 09, 2024 23:53 UTC