In a letter to Kim for Korea's liberation day, Putin said closer ties would be in both countries' interests, and would help strengthen the security and stability of the Korean peninsula and the Northeastern Asian region, DPRK's KCNA news agency said.

Axar.az reports that Kim also sent a letter to Putin saying Russian-DPRK friendship had been forged in World War II with victory over Japan, which had occupied the Korean peninsula.

The "strategic and tactical cooperation, support and solidarity" between the two countries has since reached a new level is their common efforts to frustrate threats and provocations from hostile military forces, Kim said in the letter.

Kim predicted cooperation between Russia and the DPRK would grow based on an agreement signed in 2019 when he met with Putin.