North Korean leader Kim Jong-un [Yonhap]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un [Yonhap]

Russia has officially confirmed that it has invited North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to visit the country.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said Thursday that Kim "has been invited to visit our country" and that "Russia will always be glad to welcome the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," according to Yonhap and Russia's state-run TASS news agency.

Rudenko added that the schedule for the visit would be coordinated through diplomatic channels.

Earlier, Vladimir Putin had asked Kim to visit Russia after the two leaders held a summit in Pyongyang in June 2024. Putin extended the same invitation when the two met again at China's Victory Day parade in September last year.

Speculation that Kim could visit Moscow before the end of the year grew in July, when North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui made a surprise trip to Russia at the invitation of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Kim has visited Russia twice before — in 2019 and 2023 — but both times he met Putin in the Far East. He has never visited the capital, Moscow.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in March, when Kim's reappointment as leader was announced, that "Russia will always welcome the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," reaffirming that the invitation remained open.

North Korea and Russia have grown increasingly close following the signing of a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty in 2024 and the deployment of North Korean troops to Ukraine.


chami@heraldcorp.com