Kim and Putin pledge strategic cooperation.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to strengthen strategic cooperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a message marking Russia's National Day. Kim called for "closer strategic cooperation" with Moscow, "holding hands firmly with the Russian president, in conformity with the common desire of the peoples of the two countries to fulfil the grand goal of building a powerful country." North Korea has sought to forge closer ties with the Kremlin and backed Moscow after it invaded Ukraine last year.