INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised North Korea on Tuesday for "firmly supporting" his war in Ukraine ahead of an East Asia trip,
featuring stops in Pyongyang and Vietnam.The Kremlin leader is scheduled to touch down on Tuesday night for his first visit to North Korea
in 24 years, with a confrontation between North and South Korean troops on their shared border highlighting regional security tensions."We
highly appreciate that the DPRK is firmly supporting the special military operation of Russia being conducted in Ukraine," Putin wrote in an
article published by North Korean state media, referring to the isolated country by its official acronym.Moscow and Pyongyang are "now
actively developing a many-sided partnership," he added.Russia and North Korea have been allies since the latter's founding after World
War II, and the pair have developed stronger relations since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.Washington and its allies
has denied the allegations, but ahead of his trip on Tuesday, Putin thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for backing his country's war
effort.The Kremlin chief praised North Korea for "defending their interests very effectively despite the United States economic pressure,
provocation, blackmail and military threats that have lasted for decades."He also hailed Moscow and Pyongyang for "maintaining the common
line and stand at the UN."Pyongyang said the visit showed bilateral ties "are getting stronger day by day" and would "give fresh vitality to
the development of the good-neighborly cooperative relations between the two countries," the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
