Russian President Putin meets North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Beijing

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attend a military parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrender in Beijing, China. (AP)

Putin and Kim traveled from a formal reception to the negotiations in the same car, the Kremlin said in a post on social media.

Speaking in front of journalists as the meeting began, Putin praised the bravery and heroism North Korean soldiers who fought alongside Moscow’s troops to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region.

According to South Korean assessments, North Korea has sent around 15,000 troops to Russia since last year.

In his opening remarks, Kim Jong Un said that providing any assistance to Russia was North Korea’s “fraternal duty,” Russian state media outlet TASS reported.