North Korea says Russian President Putin will arrive in the North on Tuesday

North Korean state media says Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive in the country on Tuesday for a two-day visit.
Putin is expected to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for talks focused on expanding military cooperation as they deepen their alignment in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with Washington.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Monday that Putin will pay a state visit to the North on Tuesday and Wednesday at the invitation of Kim. North Korean state media didn’t immediately provide more details. Russia confirmed the visit in a simultaneous announcement.
It will be Putin’s first visit to North Korea in 24 years. The visit comes amid growing international concerns about an arms arrangement in which Pyongyang provides Moscow with badly needed munitions to fuel Putin’s war in Ukraine in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that would enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.