The alliance between Pyongyang and Moscow was consolidated by "sharing blood, life and death in the same trench", says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent a message of greeting 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 Saturday.

Kim Jong Un inaugurates a luxury mountain resort in Samjiyon, projecting prosperity even as North Korea struggles with poverty and hunger.

SEOUL: Russia's President Vladimir Putin touted an "invincible friendship" with North Korea in a New Year letter to leader Kim Jong Un, state media reported Thursday (Dec 25).In the message, received in Pyongyang last week,

Kim Byung-yeon, a distinguished professor in the Department of Economics at Seoul National University, said on the 22nd, “A ‘hidden battle’ is unfolding between the North Korean regime and the markets it seeks to control.