In signal of closer ties, Putin to visit North Korea at ‘early date’

Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed a willingness to visit Pyongyang “at an early date,” North Korean state media said Sunday, as the two pariah nations forge ever-closer ties amid growing pressure from the U.S. and its allies.

A visit by Putin would be his first since he traveled to Pyongyang nearly 23 years ago for talks with the current North Korean leader’s father, Kim Jong Il.

“President Putin expressed deep thanks once again for the invitation of President of the State Affairs Kim Jong Un to visit Pyongyang at a convenient time and expressed his willingness to visit the DPRK at an early date,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said in a press release citing the office of the country’s foreign minister. DPRK is the acronym for the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.