North Korean leader Kim Jong-un offered his country's "full support and solidarity" to Moscow in a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, state media reported.
Kim sent a message of congratulations on the National Day to Russia, one of the few countries that maintains friendly relations with Pyongyang.
His message, released by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), did not directly mention the invasion of Ukraine or Moscow's involvement in an armed conflict, but praised Putin's "correct decision and guidance... to foil the hostile forces' escalating threats."
It added that the North Korean people offer "full support and solidarity to the Russian people in their all-out struggle for implementing the sacred cause to preserve the sovereign rights, development and interests of their country against the imperialists' high-handed and arbitrary practices."
This is the latest message of support from Pyongyang to Moscow since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
North Korea called the conflict a US "proxy war" to destroy Russia and condemned Western military assistance to Kyiv.
In January, the United States accused North Korea of supplying missiles and rockets to the Russian mercenary group Wagner. Pyongyang denied the allegation.
In March, Washington claimed it had evidence that Moscow was looking to Pyongyang to supply weapons for its offensive in Ukraine, in exchange for food aid for impoverished North Korea.
As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia has long maintained its stance against increasing pressure on North Korea, which is under multiple sanctions by the United Nations and the West over its nuclear weapons and missile programs.
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