Letter sent to mark anniversary of end of Japan’s colonial occupation of Korea is latest sign of increasingly close ties between two leaders

Putin during the call on Tuesday praised the “bravery, heroism and self-sacrificing spirit” displayed by North Korean troops as they fought with Russian forces to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region,

Russian president Vladimir Putin, in a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, thanked North Korea for its support and assistance in the war against Ukraine, calling the cooperation between the countries a strategic partnership,