Kim promises to help Russia with 'everything' as Putin thanks North Korea for war aid

BEIJING (Reuters) -North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged his full support to Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, promising to do "everything I can to assist" Moscow as the Russian president thanked Pyongyang for sending troops to fight against Ukraine.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of celebrations in Beijing to mark the anniversary of Japan's formal surrender in World War Two. 

Hours earlier, the pair flanked Chinese President Xi Jinping at a massive military parade for the first such gathering of the three countries' leaders since the early days of the Cold War.

After the parade, Kim and Putin travelled in the same car to a state guesthouse for private bilateral discussions.

"If there is anything I can or must do for you and the Russian people, I consider it my duty as a fraternal obligation," Kim told Putin.

Putin addressed Kim as "Dear Chairman of State Affairs" in Russian and extended his warmest greetings. The two countries are bound by a 2024 mutual defence treaty and both face heavy international sanctions - Russia for its war in Ukraine and North Korea for its nuclear weapons programme.

"Recently, relations between our countries have assumed a special, trusting and friendly character, and an allied character," Putin said, and praised North Korean special forces that were deployed to help Russian troops. "Your soldiers fought courageously and heroically."

North Korean troops helped Moscow earlier this year to eject Ukrainian forces from Russia's western region of Kursk.

"I would like to note that we will never forget the sacrifices that your armed forces and the families of your servicemen have suffered," Putin said.

The Beijing visit, Kim's first known trip to China since the pandemic, offered the reclusive North Korean leader his first-ever chance to meet Putin and Xi together, as well as mingle with the more than two dozen other national leaders who attended the events.

According to Pul Pervogo, a social media account that reports widely on Alexander Lukashenko's activities, Kim spoke to the Belarusian president before the parade and invited him to visit Pyongyang.

Park Won-gon, a North Korea expert at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, called the visit a major propaganda win for Kim. 

"Just standing and walking side by side with Xi Jinping and Putin. How could there be any better way for him to show his status to the world and to his people?" 

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Josh Smith and Saad Sayeed)