Putin for 'closer ties' as N Korea celebrates 75th founding anniversary

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for stronger ties with North Korea "on all fronts" as his close ally Kim Jong-un celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Asian country's founding. North Korea marked its founding anniversary with a parade attended by Jong-un as well as Russian diplomats and a high-ranking Chinese delegation, state media said.

The Friday night event featured Pyongyang's "paramilitary forces", state media said on Saturday, rather than soldiers in the regular army, and it did not appear to showcase the country's banned weaponry, including intercontinental ballistic missiles.

"I am convinced that thanks to our joint efforts we will continue to strengthen... bilateral ties on all fronts", Putin said in a message to Kim as quoted by the Kremlin.

"This fully corresponds to the interests of our people" and helps to ensure "the security and stability on the Korean peninsula and northeast Asia," he said.

Putin noted that the Soviet Union was the first country to recognise the North Korean regime and said that "since then relations between our two countries have always been based on the principles of friendship, good neighbourliness and mutual respect".

Kim met with the visiting Chinese delegation led by Liu Guozhong, vice premier of the State Council, the second such visit by top officials from Beijing in six weeks, as Pyongyang shows signs of easing its strict Covid-era border controls.

The two sides announced their aims of "further intensifying the multi-faceted coordination and cooperation" between the two countries, according to a separate KCNA report.

Russian diplomats also attended the event, as well as a Russian military song-and-dance ensemble which had arrived in Pyongyang to mark the occasion, KCNA reported.

Moscow expanded its official presence in North Korea shortly before the parade, with its Pyongyang embassy saying this week that it had been allowed to bring in 20 diplomatic and technical staff - the first such rotation of personnel since 2019.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent Kim a message marking the anniversary, KCNA said Saturday, in which he called for the two countries to "expand the bilateral ties in all respects".

"Widening fissure" in Asia's geopolitical landscape

Friday's parade, the nuclear-armed state's third parade this year, came two days after Pyongyang unveiled its first "tactical nuclear attack submarine", with Kim declaring it part of a "push forward with the nuclear weaponisation of the Navy".

The Chinese and Russian visits come as speculation mounts that Kim - who rarely leaves his country and has not travelled since the coronavirus pandemic started - will meet Putin to discuss arms deals.

US and other officials told The New York Times that Kim is likely to head by armoured train later this month to Vladivostok, on Russia's Pacific coast not far from North Korea, to meet Putin.

Growing cooperation between China, Russia and North Korea, coupled with Xi skipping the G20 Summit in India, "give the appearance of a widening fissure in Asia's geopolitical landscape", he said.

North Korea has conducted a record number of weapons tests this year, and last month failed in its second attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit.

South Korea and the United States have ramped up security cooperation in response.