Letter sent to mark anniversary of end of Japan’s colonial occupation of Korea is latest sign of increasingly close ties between two leaders

Russian president Vladimir Putin, in a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, thanked North Korea for its support and assistance in the war against Ukraine, calling the cooperation between the countries a strategic partnership,

Putin during the call on Tuesday praised the “bravery, heroism and self-sacrificing spirit” displayed by North Korean troops as they fought with Russian forces to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region,