March 17 this year is the 74th anniversary of the DPRK-Russia agreement on economic and cultural cooperation.

President Kim Il Sung made his first official visit to the then USSR in 1949 and concluded the first bilateral inter-governmental agreement on March 17. The conclusion of the agreement provided a legal guarantee for expanding and developing the bilateral relations of friendship and cooperation on a larger scale. Since then, the two countries had promoted multi-faceted cooperation and exchange without interruption.

The DPRK-Russia friendly and cooperative ties with a long historical root have entered a higher level in the new century.

Chairman Kim Jong Il met President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin who visited the DPRK in July 2000 and adopted the DPRK-Russia joint declaration. He met Putin again during an official visit to Russia in August 2001 and signed the Moscow declaration. He cemented the friendly bond between the two countries as he visited Russia in 2002 and 2011.

At present, the bilateral relations are constantly developing in conformity with the interests of both countries and as required by the new era.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un met the foreign minister of the Russian Federation and the chairwoman of the Russian Federation Council who came to the DPRK respectively in May and September of 2018 and exchanged comprehensive views on the matters of collaborating and keeping pace in invariably keeping to the traditional friendly ties provided by the preceding leaders and developing them in a sustainable and constructive way and in safeguarding lasting and durable peace and security of the region and the world.

Kim Jong Un met Putin in Vladivostok, Russia, in April 2019. His first Russia visit was a historic event that demonstrated the firmness of the DPRK-Russia friendship that was carried on through generations and rendered a great contribution to the peace and security of the Korean peninsula and beyond.

The long-standing bilateral relations are getting more invigorated and strengthened under the care of the leaders of the two countries.

The two countries have the common objectives of opposing interference and pressure from outside and defending national sovereignty.

Currently, they are hardening their stance to protect their sovereignty and bolstering mutual support and solidarity while taking concerted actions in opposing high-handedness, oppression and injustice of the imperialists in the international arena.

This is greatly encouraging the world’s progressives aspiring after independence and justice.

The bilateral friendship will be further consolidated and developed by the concerted efforts of the peoples of the two countries.