Kim warns Putin, North Korea may return to its original state

MOSCOW, Russia – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has told Russian President Vladimir Putin, that the situation on the Korean peninsula and the region is now at a standstill.

He told the Russian leader, North Korea has reached a critical point where it may return to its original state as the U.S. took “a unilateral attitude in bad faith” at the recent second U.S.-North Korea summit, according to the country’s state news agency KCNA.

“Peace and security on the Korean peninsula will entirely depend on the U.S. future attitude, and the DPRK will gird itself for every possible situation,” Kim said.

The North Korean leader was meeting with President Putin on Thursday in Moscow where he is on a state visit, having arrived from Pyongyang by train.

Present at the talks from the North Korean side were Ri Yong Ho, foreign minister, and Choe Son Hui, first vice-foreign minister, and from the Russian side were Sergei Lavrov, foreign minister, Yuri Trutnev, deputy prime minister and presidential envoy to the Far East Federal Region, Dmitri Peskov, deputy head of the Presidential Administration and president’s press secretary, Yuri Ushakov, assistant to the president’s foreign policy, Yevgeni Ditrih, minister of Railways, Alexandr Kozlov, minister of Development of the Far East and Arctic, Anatoli Yanovski, vice-minister of Energy, Oleg Belozerov, president of the Russian Railways Company, and Alexandr Matsegora, Russian ambassador to North Korea.

At the talks, President Putin expressed his deep thanks to Kim Jong Un for accepting his invitation and visiting Russia, ‘and expressed the firm stand and will of the Russian government to carry forward and develop the history and tradition of the Russia-North Korea friendship.’

Kim said he wanted to put North Korean-Russian relations “on a new high stage as required by the new century.”

The two leaders, Kim said, ‘analyzed and assessed the trend of the situation on the Korean peninsula that has faced a crucial moment and had an in-depth discussion on the ways for the two countries to promote the strategic communication and tactical collaboration in the course of ensuring peace and security on the Korean peninsula and in the region.’

Kim Jong Un invited President Putin to visit North Korea at a convenient time and the invitation, KCNA indicated, was readily accepted.