Russian President Vladimir Putin heaped praise on North Korean troops fighting in Ukraine as “heroic” in a letter penned to Kim Jong-un, North Korean state media reported.

The two nations have been forging closer ties since Putin’s war in Ukraine, with Kim deploying more than 12,000 North Korean troops to fight alongside Moscow . 4

“The bonds of military friendship, goodwill and mutual aid, which were consolidated in the days of the war long ago, remain solid and reliable even today,” Putin wrote in the letter marking the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese rule on Aug. 15, 1945, when both nations fought side-by-side.

“This was demonstrated by the heroic participation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s soldiers in liberating the territory of the Kursk re

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