Russian president Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un met face-to-face for the first time on Thursday and vowed to seek closer ties. The meeting was held at Russia’s Pacific port city of Vladivostok.
In brief statements before their meeting, both men said they were looking to strengthen ties that date back to the Soviet Union’s support for the founder of North Korea, Kim’s grandfather Kim Il Sung.
Putin told North Korean leader Kim that he supports ongoing efforts to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula and wants to boost economic ties.
Addressing a press conference following talks, Putin said he was not sure about resuming six-party talks on North Korean denuclearisation at this point. He, however, noted that such a format might be useful in providing Pyongyang with international security guarantees.
Six-party talks on North Korean de-nuclearization started back in 2003. The talks involve China, Japan, Russia, the US along with North Korea and South Korea. The last round of such talks took place in 2007.
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