Russian President Vladimir Putin told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that the two countries will “expand the comprehensive and constructive bilateral relations with common efforts,” Pyongyang state media reported on Monday.

In a letter to Kim on the occasion of Korea Liberation Day, Putin said closer ties will be in the best interest of both countries and help enhance security and stability on the Korean peninsula and the northeastern region. from Asia, according to the North Korean news agency KCNA.

Kim also sent a letter to Putin stating that the friendship between Russia and North Korea was forged in World War II with the victory over Japan, which had occupied the Korean peninsula.

“Strategic and tactical cooperation, support and solidarity” between the two countries has since reached a new level in their common efforts to thwart threats and provocations by hostile military forces, Kim said in the letter.

The KCNA did not identify the hostile forces, but has typically used that term to refer to the United States and its allies.

Kim predicted that cooperation between Russia and North Korea will grow on the basis of an agreement signed in 2019 when he met with Putin.

In July, North Korea recognized two Russian-backed breakaway “people’s republics” in eastern Ukraine as independent states, and officials raised the possibility of sending North Korean workers to the areas to help with construction and other work.

Ukraine, which is resisting a Russian invasion described by Moscow as a “special military operation”, immediately severed relations with Pyongyang over this move.