Days before Kim Jong Un is set to meet US President Donald Trump in Singapore, the North Korean leader is revealing plans to meet yet another leader — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Assad will visit Kim in North Korea, the latter country’s state news agency KCNA said Sunday. The report did not specify a date for the meeting, and Syrian state media has so far not reported on the planned visit.
If the meeting takes place in Pyongyang, it would be the first time a world leader has visited Kim in the capital.
The report referred to the close ties between the two countries, and quoted Assad as saying Syria would “fully support all policies and measures” of the North Korean leadership.
Ties between North Korea and Syria have remained friendly for decades, with Assad’s father Hafez meeting the founder of the North Korean regime, Kim Il Sung, in the 1970s.
In 2015, the Syrian government even named a park in Damascus after Kim Il Sung. At the park’s inauguration, Syria’s deputy foreign minister called the North Korean founder “a historic ruler and leader, famous for his struggle to liberate and build his country.”
As client states of the Soviet Union, both countries have developed strong military ties.
North Korea has for year been suspected of providing Syria with advanced Scud missiles and the technology to produce them.
The governments also have a history of sending each other messages of solidarity and support.
In April last year, following a suspected Syrian chemical attack on civilians, Kim sent Assad a congratulatory message to mark the founding anniversary of Syria’s ruling party.
“The Syrian government and people are reliably defending the independence and security of the country, resolutely smashing the acts of aggression of all the hostile forces and meeting their challenges under your correct leadership,” the message said, according to North Korean state news agency KCNA.