North Korea’s Kim hails ‘comrade’ Putin in New Year’s greeting | News

The North Korean leader expresses hope that Moscow will defeat ‘neo-Nazism and achieve a great victory’ in Ukraine.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un paid tribute to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a New Year’s message praising deepening ties between Pyongyang and Moscow, state media reported.

In a New Year’s letter, Kim sent congratulations to his “dearest friend and comrade” Putin, the Russian people and Russian military personnel, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Tuesday.

Kim wished Putin “more success in his responsible and difficult activities of state leadership, and the Russian people prosperity, well-being and happiness,” KCNA said.

Kim expressed his willingness to “design and continue new projects” involving Pyongyang and Moscow after their “significant trip” in 2024, KCNA said, and hoped Russia would defeat “neo-Nazism and achieve a great victory” in Ukraine.

Putin claimed without evidence that his invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was necessary to protect Russian speakers from a “neo-Nazi dictatorship”.

North Korea and Russia have significantly strengthened ties since the start of the war.

In June, Kim and Putin signed a mutual defense pact during the first visit by a Russian leader to North Korea in nearly a quarter of a century.

Pyongyang has since sent more than 10,000 troops to help Russian forces in Ukraine, according to South Korean and Ukrainian officials.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that his forces had killed or wounded more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service put the number of estimated North Korean casualties at about 100 killed and 1,000 injured.