SEOUL: Russian President Vladimir
Putin
expressed his willingness to
visit
Pyongyang soon when he met with North Korean foreign minister Choe Son Hui in Russia last week,
North Korea
's state news agency KCNA reported on Sunday.
Putin also thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for his invitation to visit, KCNA said, citing North Korea's foreign minister's assistant office.
It would be the Russian leader's first trip to North Korea in more than two decades.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia hoped a Putin visit to North Korea, at Kim's invitation, would take place "in the foreseeable future", but he said no date had yet been agreed.
KCNA's Korean-language report on Sunday suggested Putin intended to visit soon, but its later English report said he was "
willing
" to do so at an early date. During Choe's visit, Russia thanked North Korea for its support and solidarity in its Ukraine military operation, KCNA said.
Moscow and
Pyongyang
also expressed serious concern over provocative acts by the US and its allies against North Korea's sovereign rights.
English (US) ·