Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, met on November 29 Minister of Defence Andrei Beloussov, who is on a visit to the DPRK leading a military delegation of the Russian Federation.

Kim Jong Un gladly greeted Beloussov, who visited Pyongyang again after five months, and had friendly and trustworthy talks with him.

Beloussov courteously conveyed the friendly greetings from Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin to Kim Jong Un.

Kim Jong Un expressed deep thanks for this, and asked him to convey his warm comradely greetings to the respected Vladimir Putin.

During the talks, there was a wide-ranging exchange of views on the issues of further developing the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, including the defence field, and defending sovereignty, security and interests of the two countries and international justice in the face of the rapidly-changing regional and international security environment, and a satisfactory consensus of views was reached.

Kim Jong Un said that the visit to the DPRK by Beloussov would greatly contribute to bolstering up the defence capabilities of the two countries and ensuring their security and serve as a useful occasion in promoting friendship, mutual cooperation and relations between the two armies.

Expressing great concern over the ever-escalating developments of the Ukrainian situation, Kim Jong Un expressed the stand that the recent anti-Russia measures taken by the US deserve condemnation by the international community as they are irresponsible acts that foment prolonged conflict and threaten all mankind.

Noting that the US and the West instigated the Kiev authorities to attack Russia's territory with their long-range strike weapons, he said that it means their direct military intervention in the conflict and that it is a righteous exercise of the right to self-defence for Russia to take resolute action so as to make the hostile forces pay the price as they have emerged as an aggressive entity in the anti-Russia war. And he stressed the need to take clear action in order to give a signal that the provocative forces led by the US will not benefit from their disregard for the warnings of Russia.

The recent counterattack against Ukraine by the Russian government and army is a timely and effective measure that informed the US, the West and Ukraine, which are resorting to reckless military adventurism, of the gravity of the situation and the will of Russia to take hard-line counteraction, he said, affirming that the DPRK government, army and people will invariably support the policy of the Russian Federation to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity from the imperialists' moves for hegemony.

The strong DPRK-Russia relations serve as a powerful security device for promoting the well-being of the two peoples, easing the regional tension and guaranteeing international strategic stability, he said, expressing his will to more vigorously expand and develop the relations between the two countries in the political, economic, military and all other fields true to the agreement reached at the DPRK-Russia Pyongyang summit in June last.

Kim Jong Un asked Beloussov to convey his best wishes to the respected Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and the Russian government, army and people, and reaffirmed that Pyongyang would always be on the side of Moscow.