Russia's Putin offers disaster aid to North Korea to help it cope with recent flooding damage
Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered humanitarian assistance to help North Korea cope with damages from recent floods, in another sign of expanding relations between the two nations
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin offered humanitarian assistance to help North Korea cope with damages from recent floods, both countries said, in another sign of expanding relations between the two nations.
In a message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Saturday, Putin "extended deep sympathy and support” and conveyed his willingness to provide immediate disaster aid to help North Korea recover from the floods, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday.
Russia’s state news agency Tass carried a similar report, saying that Putin told Kim in the message: “You can always count on our assistance and support.”
Ties between North Korea and Russia have been improving significantly amid widespread outside beliefs that North Korea has supplied conventional weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine in return for military and economic assistance. During a meeting in Pyongyang in June, Kim and Putin signed a pact stipulating mutual military assistance if either country is attacked, in what was considered the two countries' biggest defense deal since the end of the Cold War.
