North Korean leader Kim Jong-un toasted his “closest comrade” Vladimir Putin on Monday in a birthday message that claimed the countries’ deepening military alliance would make them “invincible”.
The increasingly isolated Russian president turned 72 on Monday and received well-wishes from a small group of international backers, including Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko and the Chechyan strongman Ramzan Kadyrov.
Addressing his message to “my closest comrade Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin”, Mr Kim said the two leaders would take relations between Russia and North Korea to a new level, state news agency KCNA reported on Tuesday.
“I am now recollecting with deep emotion the days when we developed the traditional DPRK-Russia relations into the invincible alliance relations and eternal strategic relations,” Mr Kim said, referring to his country by its official name of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
He recalled that the two of them declared to the world the “realisation of independence and justice as common idea and deepened their friendship” when they met in June this year.
“Pyongyang will always stand by Moscow,” Mr Kim said.
Mr Kim said Mr Putin will lead “great Russia to the road of victory” and toasted the president’s good health. He said he would be celebrating the president’s birthday in “Pyongyang together with my friends”said.
Mr Putin marked his birthday quietly in Moscow but that did not prevent public celebrations in Moscow, where the president has outlived an average Russian male by three years despite persisten speculation about his poor health.
“God save the Tsar!” was one of the first public birthday wishes for Mr Putin, who has led Russia for nearly a quarter of a century. The message came from Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin.
Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of the Russia republic of Chechnya, wrote: “Today, friends, is the birthday of our national leader, supreme commander-in-chief, president of Russia Vladimir Putin! Undoubtedly, this is a significant day for our entire Fatherland.”
Mr Putin and Mr Kim appear to have developed a strong relationship since the Russian leader made a visit to North Korea in June.
The Russian president received a red carpet welcome and he and Mr Kim took turns driving each other around Pyongyang in a Russian Aurus limousine.
It was Mr Putin’s first visit to Pyongyang since July 2000.
Mr Kim gifted a pair of Pungsan, a breed of hunting dogs native to northern North Korea, to the Russian leader, according to state media.
The two leaders signed an agreement that provided for mutual defence in case of aggression against either nation.
Mr Putin linked Russia’s deepening relations with North Korea to the West’s support for Ukraine and said Moscow could develop military and technical cooperation with Pyongyang.