Putin hails deepening Pyongyang ties

MOSCOW:

Russian President Vladimir Putin asked North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui during talks in the Kremlin on Monday to tell his country’s leader Kim Jong Un that everything was “going to plan” in bilateral relations.

“We talked in detail in Beijing about our relations and prospects for development,” Putin told Choe, referring to talks the Russian leader held with Kim during celebrations in the Chinese capital last month to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Asia.

“Everything is going according to plan. Please convey my best wishes to him (Kim),” Putin said.

Choe also held discussions in Moscow on Monday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on bilateral relations and regional dynamics in Asia. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, both ministers agreed that rising tensions on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia stem from the “aggressive actions of the United States and its allies”.