SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent a message of greetings to Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of New Year's Day, calling the two countries' relations a "precious common asset, " the North's state media said on Saturday.
In the message, Kim described this year as a 'meaningful' one when the two countries 'steadily wrote a great biography of the alliance' through "full mutual support and selfless encouragement, " according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Kim's greeting came after Putin himself sent a New Year's message to the North Korean leader on December 18.