A senior North Korean diplomat reaffirmed strengthening ties with Russia, Saturday, to mark the seventh anniversary of the first summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jong-gyu hailed the 2019 summit in Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East in a statement on his ministry’s website, saying it served as a “new turning point” in the development of bilateral relations. “Since the DPRK-Russia summit meeting in Vladivostok, the two peoples have developed the friendly and cooperative relations in a multifaceted way,” he wrote. DPRK stands for the North’s official name — the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. He cited the two leaders’ signing of the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in another summit in Pyongyang in June 2024, saying it elevated relations to a “high level of alliance.” The official also noted his country’s deployment of troops in support of Russia’s war against Ukraine as an example of the “enduring nature of the firm alliance and militant friendship” between the two countries. “It is our invariab
