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North Korea Hopes to Improve Ties with Russia
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il said on Monday he had hopes of an improvement in ties with his huge neighbour, Russia, after the announcement of a planned visit by President Vladimir Putin.
"The relationship between the two countries is entering a new stage of development as hoped for by people of both countries," Radiopress, a monitoring agency in Tokyo, quoted Kim as saying. He was speaking in a report broadcast on North Korean radio.
It was Kim's first response to Moscow's announcement last week that Putin would soon make an unprecedented visit to Pyongyang and officials have suggested the trip will take place just before Putin attends the Group of Eight summit scheduled for July 21 to 23 in Japan.
"In agreement with traditional principles of our relationship, such as equality, autonomy, and mutual respect, and in agreement with the spirit of pacts on amity and cooperation, I am sure our relationship will expand still further," Kim said.
The flurry of diplomatic activity came just before North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is due to meet South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung on Tuesday in Pyongyang for a historic three-day summit.
No Soviet or post-Soviet Russian leader has ever gone to Pyongyang.
Moscow has since late 1980s concentrated its diplomatic efforts on more-developed, capitalist South Korea.
Russian diplomats said Putin and North Korea would discuss military issues, including a US proposal to alter the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty to allow it to build a national missile defence (NMD).
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