Kim Jong-un, Putin hold talks

SEOUL -- Kim Jong-un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea had a historic meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in the Russian Far East, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday.

Kim, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, met with his Russian counterpart at the Vostochny spaceport in the Amur region, the report said.

The two leaders had a one-on-one session after an extended talk which also involved senior officials from the two countries.

According to the KCNA, the extended talk addressed the issues of further consolidating the friendship, solidarity and cooperative relations and boosting mutual trust by deepening the exchanges and cooperation in various fields including high-level visits between the two countries, and steadily expanding the bilateral ties.

The two sides also had a wide-ranging and in-depth exchange of views on important issues of mutual concern.

During the one-on-one meeting, Kim and Putin reached an agreement and consensus on further strengthening strategic and tactical cooperation between the two countries and extending strong support to and solidarity with each other on the common front of frustrating military threats.

At the invitation of Putin, Kim left the DPRK capital Pyongyang on Sunday to visit Russia by a special train and arrived in the Russian border city of Khasan early Tuesday.

According to the KCNA, Kim also visited the Vostochny spaceport with Putin on Wednesday. The Russian president hosted on the same day a welcoming reception for Kim and accepted Kim's invitation to visit his country.